New charges for Ohio mom accused of faking child’s cancer for money
View a previous report on Pamela Reed’s arrest in the video player above.
CALDWELL, Ohio (WCMH) — Two new charges have been stacked on for a Pleasant City woman accused of receiving thousands of dollars in donations for a child’s medical expenses from an illness they never had.
As a result of a Tuesday preliminary hearing, Noble County Court records showed a judge added two other charges against 41-year-old Pamela Reed. She already faced an existing charge of petty theft after Noble County deputies arrested her on Jan. 8. The new charges included one count of telecommunications fraud and one count of forgery.
In an updated criminal complaint document from Noble County Court, a deputy provided cause for the new charges, writing that Reed had “devised a scheme to defraud,” through writing, pictures or images on a telecommunications device. They wrote in addition that Reed forged someone’s writing on a Noble County Health Department document, referencing a doctored letter she gave to her child’s school as proof of a cancer diagnosis.
In public online posts as recent as Jan. 6, Reed detailed the child’s battle with acute myeloid leukemia. While she wrote in her latest post that people did not have to send money or gifts, she asked for birthday cards for the child.
‘Serial killings’ among 2023 homicides in Columbus
As a result of the preliminary hearing, the Noble County Court judge set Reed’s bond at $50,000 and ordered her to be placed on house arrest. They added that Reed would be fitted with an electronic GPS monitor, and ordered her to have no contact with the child.
Reed’s case was then bound over to the Noble County Court of Common Pleas. No online records were available there for Reed’s case as of Friday night.
Zeps Against Cancer and Crooked Halo Photography both donated $7,725 to Reed’s family to offset medical costs, according to the Noble County Sheriff’s Office. They began investigating her after receiving a tip from the child’s school. Staff had been concerned with how much school the child had missed, and after contacting the medical provider listed on documents Reed had provided, they learned that the child never had cancer.
During an interview with detectives after her arrest, Reed admitted she had “exaggerated and fabricated medical conditions” to get the donations, the sheriff’s office wrote in an affidavit. She had shaved the child’s hair off, and it was never because of medical treatment for cancer. Reed also received seizure medication prescribed to the child as a result of what she reported to doctors, despite the child not needing it.
The Noble County Sheriff asked anyone with information on the case, or any person or organization that feels they may have donated mistakenly, to call 740-732-5631.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
