Fiancé of the year

WEST NANTICOKE – Heather Brennan thought her fiancé, Travis Nickel, was a perfect match – until she learned he fed her rats, was engaged to another woman and had a child from a prior relationship, she alleges in a federal lawsuit.

Her 10-month love affair with Nickel, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, ended after he left her in July, two weeks before their wedding, she said. Broken-hearted and broke, the jilted bride is seeking $125,000 to recoup cancelled wedding costs and other debts, as well as compensation for the “humiliation and mental anguish” she endured.

The lawsuit, which Brennan prepared and filed herself in federal court in Scranton, accuses Nickel of a host of other misdeeds, including giving her the engagement ring that belonged to a different woman.