Enid woman sentenced after lying to get donations
ENID — For years, a mother lied about her young daughter having cancer to receive thousands of dollars in donations.
“My greed had taken over,” she admitted after being charged.
“I was so greedy and never thought about how my actions were effecting everyone else. I was so caught up in my own wants,” Jessica Lynn Good wrote in a statement this year. “I was lying to everyone, including my husband and family. People seemed to want to help with the financial side of things so my lie got bigger and bigger.”
On Monday, a Garfield County judge sentenced Good, 33, of Enid, to three years in prison followed by about two decades of probation. The judge also ordered Good to pay $69,565 in restitution, most of it to the Department of Human Services for food stamp fraud.
Earlier this year, Good pleaded guilty in two felony cases related to fraudulently receiving money.
In one case, Good pleaded guilty to child abuse, five counts of obtaining money by false pretenses for charitable purposes, attempting to obtain money by false pretenses and two computer crimes. Prosecutors alleged Good collected more than $26,000 fromlocal fundraisers and donations made through online GoFundMe campaigns.
“I was living a huge lie and using social media and a funding website to take advantage of people,” Good wrote in the statement.
In 2013, Good began telling people her daughter had cancer after a “harmless cyst” was found on the girl’s brain, she wrote.
“My mind went to the very worst scenario,” Good wrote. The girl is now 5, documents show.
Good shared numerous posts on Facebook about her daughter having a tumor removed from her brain at an early age, according to investigators. She also posted that her daughter was diagnosed with lymphoma, needed stem cell replacements and was on a heart transplant list, Enid police reported in a court affidavit.
The daughter’s medical records, though, indicated the claims were not true and she didn’t have any form of cancer, police reported. Records showed the daughter had been diagnosed with a mild case of cerebral palsy and is developmentally delayed, police reported.
Several doctors told police “they feel this might be some form of Munchausen by proxy syndrome by the mother,” according to investigators. The syndrome is one of abuse where a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under his or her care with a motive of gaining attention or sympathy from others.
Good created a GoFundMe campaign in November 2013 for her daughter’s medical expenses, police reported.
In 2014, a golf tournament was held in Enid to raise funds for the girl. The tournament raised about $12,000, police reported. Good later began telling people her daughter was cancer free, she wrote.
But, in late 2015, she claimed her daughter’s cancer was back, “So I could have the financial help again,” she wrote. She again campaigned on GoFundMe for “Ongoing Medical Care,” police reported.
Police began investigating Good in 2016 after a pastor at an Enid church reported being suspicious of possible fraud. The church and members had given the Good family more than $5,000 over a three-year period, police reported.
In the second case, Good pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud, fraudulently obtaining Medicaid assistance and fraud in obtaining assistance. Prosecutors alleged Good fraudulently received more than $45,000 from DHS by lying about her husband’s income.
Records show Good has three young children, including the 5-year-old daughter, from her current marriage. Those children are living with her husband’s parents, records show.