Tennessee woman who faked breast cancer pleads guilty to theft; colleagues gave her sick days

Tenn. woman pleads guilty to faking breast cancer

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A Tennessee woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to faking breast cancer in a scam that netted thousands of dollars worth of sick leave donated by her City Hall co-workers and money from a church and other charities.

Keele (KEE’-lee) Maynor, 39, pleaded guilty to theft and forgery and a Chattanooga judge set a May 17 sentencing. Maynor remains free on bond. She declined comment, as did Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston.

Maynor has not spoken publicly about the case since she abruptly resigned from her job as an assistant in the city’s land development office in December 2008, when her false illness claim was discovered. She said in an e-mail then that her five-year claim of having breast cancer was a “charade.”

Maynor’s attorney, Stuart Brown, said prosecutors agreed that the prison sentence will not exceed six years. Brown has said he is hopeful Maynor will receive probation, which would allow her to continue working to repay the money.

Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole asked Maynor if she understood that the sentence could range “all the way from probation to the penitentiary,” and she nodded yes.

Brown said discussions are continuing about records on sick leave donations that Maynor received from co-workers while she was a city employee. He said prosecutors agreed that the city benefits totaled less than $60,000, a threshold for a bigger penalty. He said other donations, including services provided by multiple cancer patient support groups, totaled about $27,000.

The lineup of theft victims also includes New Salem Baptist Church in Soddy-Daisy, a Chattanooga suburb. A receptionist at the church declined comment Tuesday. Maynor was charged with receiving more than $500 from the church “under the false pretense of suffering from cancer.” Maynor is not a member of the church but went there on at least one occasion.

A federal wire fraud charge was dismissed in July 2009. Records show Maynor has previous felony convictions involving food stamps and child care. She previously said she has three children to support.

Maynor acknowledged in the Dec. 12, 2008 e-mail to her boss that she has been cancer-free since a scare in 2000.

Maynor referred to herself on Internet blogs as a struggling single mother with cancer. Records show she also forged signatures on a counterfeit “communication log of Hospice of Chattanooga” on Dec. 3, 2008.

“I know God has a reason for me to be here,” she wrote in a blog entry. “I just don’t always understand or like what I have to go through to stay here.”

Brown said after the Tuesday hearing that Maynor has not apologized because “she is scared to death.”

“At some point she may do that,” he said.