Las Vegas woman charged with faking child’s illness to solicit funds
A Las Vegas woman is accused of faking her child’s leukemia diagnosis to solicit financial donations for medical costs, Nye County authorities said.
Tiffany Dearmond, 31, faces charges of obtaining money under false pretense, false written statement to obtain property or credit, false report of a crime and offering false written evidence.
Nye County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ann Horak said on Jan. 17 the sheriff’s office received a report of fraud allegedly involving Dearmond.
“A reporting party explained that Tiffany Dearmond … made public claims that her juvenile child had been diagnosed with leukemia and solicited donations under that false pretense,” Horak said. “Tiffany allegedly started a GoFundMe campaign to financially support the child’s treatment and medical bills although the diagnosis was false.”
Dearmond was able to solicit more than $500 in donations, including monies from Nye County law enforcement officers and the Pahrump Valley Fire Department.
“It was identified that the child was healthy and had never been diagnosed with leukemia,” Horak said. “Further it was identified that Tiffany told a (Nye County Sheriff’s Office) chaplain that the child was diagnosed with leukemia and solicited donations.”
When confronted by investigators Dearmond purportedly provided text messages showing someone else created the GoFundMe page
“Those messages appear to be forged,” Horak said. “There are no records of the child receiving any treatments or being under the care of any physician at the alleged hospital.”
Dearmond posted $11,000 bail. She is scheduled to be arraigned on March 30.
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.
