I befriended a charming, outgoing, and vibrant woman a few years ago who declared she was dying of cancer. I immediately jumped to her rescue - watching children, setting up fundraisers, delivering meals, and emotionally supporting this poor soul. After a year, I began to have suspicions about the validity of her illness, but didn't dare say anything because I couldn't imagine why in the world anyone would make something like this up. Also, I was surrounded by a community that had also jumped to this woman's aid. Nobody else seemed to think anything was up so obviously I felt that I must be evil for thinking such a thing.
I got a phone call one morning from a private detective. The woman was involved in a court case against her former employer (some kind of Medicaid fraud) and the defense attorney for the employer was trying to prove that this woman was a known liar with a long history of making up cancers and other bizarre disorders so she was not a credible witness. Well, I immediately knew my hunches and instincts were right. I was scared because I realized I was dealing with a sociopath who could be dangerous.
This is a very, very long and sordid tale, but I found out about a couple of others who knew of this woman's history. Together we put the pieces together. I did hundreds of hours of research on what the disorder was, other similar cases, and got important court papers from the trial that had, at least, some validation this woman was being untruthful. After we had found enough validation, I called the sheriff and turned this woman in. She accepted a lot of money and gifts from this community and that is fraud and theft. I was so scared! But, I felt so convicted and really felt I had no choice.
I cannot tell you the toll that this took on me personally. This woman realized early on that I had been contacted by this P.I. and began to immediately undermine me in the community. Since she was such a sympathetic figure, so likeable, and so good at what she does, many people did not know what to believe. After some time, people realized there was no way someone could be as sick as this woman said she was and still be alive. The woman pulled her kids out of school and moved on to a new set of victims in the town nearby.
Well, she is still out and about, but after over a year and a half of investigation I got a call that the DA has formally pressed criminal charges. You guys cannot imagine how important and healing and validating this is for me. It is a difficult case to investigate and prove. I have wanted to post for several days, but still have some hesitation about disclosing much of this. But, I should not feel this way. I have nothing to hide. It is her bill. And, it does seem to be due.
I want to thank this group for being here. I want to thank Dr. Grossman for creating this place. I feel that I have grown a lot in the past months and I credit much of it to being able to come here and learn and share. Very, very grateful today.
ANewSheriff
