Ohio woman charged after police say she faked her daughter's cancer diagnosis to raise thousands of dollars
Noble County Sheriff's Office
- Ohio authorities have accused a woman of faking her daughter's cancer diagnosis to raise money.
- One local organization donated $8,000 to the child's purported medical expenses.
- Pamela Reed has been charged with theft by deception, a fourth-degree felony, the sheriff's department said.
Authorities in Ohio say a woman faked her daughter's cancer diagnosis and used it to raise thousands of dollars in online fundraisers for her treatment.
The Noble County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that deputies arrested Pamela Reed, 41, on January 4 and charged her with theft by deception, a fourth-degree felony. A judge set Reed's bond at $50,000, authorities said in their statement.
The sheriff's office said it received a tip that a local child was being used to improperly raise money based on the public portrayal that they had cancer. Several local organizations donated money to the child, including one that made a donation of $8,000, the sheriff's office said.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law & Crime, administrators at Reed's child's school contacted police after performing an eye exam showing that her daughter could see out of her right eye, which Reed previously claimed she was blind in.
Authorities said in the document that school officials noted that Reed's child has already missed more than 280 hours of school this school year.
According to the sheriff's statement, Reed admitted to exaggerating and fabricating her child's condition to solicit donations from the local organizations.
"Child abuse and neglect isn't always cut and dry, cookie cutter scenarios," the sheriff's department said. "If you as a professional or as a member of our community feel like something just isn't quite right, don't hesitate, make the report."
Fundraising scams are not uncommon in the United States. In 2022, Kelly Turner of Colorado was sentenced to 16 years in prison after signing off on unnecessary medical treatments that killed her daughter, Olivia. Turner raised tens of thousands of dollars in donations for her daughter and received over $500,000 from Medicaid, according to The New York Times.
An attorney told The Times that Turner's family believed Turner had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, meaning she deliberately induced illness in her child to get attention.
Another similar case is that of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Her mother, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard, falsely proclaimed her daughter suffered from leukemia and muscular dystrophy, among other diseases, for years, soliciting donations and even a house from Habitat for Humanity along the way.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn plotted to kill Clauddine Blanchard, and in June 2015, Godejohn stabbed her to death.
Blanchard, 32, was released on parole in December after serving eight years for the second-degree murder of her mother. Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.