August 30, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A woman sentenced earlier this year to probation for faking cancer and collecting money from fundraisers has been arrested for allegedly deceiving her employers with a similar scheme.
Brookelyn Walters, 26, faces a preliminary charge of theft after convincing the owners of a gymnastics business that she had leukemia, police said. Mike and Erin Booher, owners of Bloomington's Rising Star Gymnastics, said they felt so moved by her story that Walters stayed in their home for a month so they could care for her. "Our trust just sort of kept us going with her, and our pity, too," Erin Booher said.
While she was a student at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana, Walters shaved her head and pretended to be deaf for three years, leading Ball State officials to provide an interpreter for her to attend classes, authorities said. A sorority and fraternity also gave Walters $1,000 raised at a benefit.
A Delaware Circuit Court judge sentenced her in March to four years probation after she pleaded guilty but mentally ill to felony charges. Walters moved to Bloomington earlier this year and had been working at Rising Star since February, using a fake name, police said.
In April, Walters told the owners that she had been diagnosed with leukemia, a form of cancer. The Boohers organized a fundraiser earlier this month at which they held a cartwheel-a-thon and raised about $4,000, police said.
The hoax ended Sunday after Walters was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis where she said she needed emergency brain surgery. Erin Booher and a friend said they asked to speak to a counselor. When a doctor arrived, the pair told him about Walters' story and noticed that the doctor was smirking. The Boohers did Internet research and found Walters' former conviction in Muncie.
"I have never been so agonized in my entire life," Erin Booher said. The Boohers and police say Walters' story was convincing. All her hair was gone one day, including her eyelashes and eyebrows, Erin Booher said. The hair began to grow again, and Walters told the Boohers' 5-year-old daughter it was because of her prayers, police said. "She faked the whole thing, but it was very, very elaborate," Monroe County Detective Barb Beland said.
Erin Booher said she became suspicious when Walters said her heart had stopped at the hospital." She said that she flatlined and had a code blue at 1:20 in the afternoon, and she was back at her apartment by 5 in the evening," Booher said. At one time, Walters had her arm wrapped up with an intravenous port sticking out. At times, she injected herself with a clear liquid that also had a handwritten label. "They felt really sorry for her," Beland said.
Brookelyn Walters, 26, faces a preliminary charge of theft after convincing the owners of a gymnastics business that she had leukemia, police said. Mike and Erin Booher, owners of Bloomington's Rising Star Gymnastics, said they felt so moved by her story that Walters stayed in their home for a month so they could care for her. "Our trust just sort of kept us going with her, and our pity, too," Erin Booher said.
While she was a student at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana, Walters shaved her head and pretended to be deaf for three years, leading Ball State officials to provide an interpreter for her to attend classes, authorities said. A sorority and fraternity also gave Walters $1,000 raised at a benefit.
A Delaware Circuit Court judge sentenced her in March to four years probation after she pleaded guilty but mentally ill to felony charges. Walters moved to Bloomington earlier this year and had been working at Rising Star since February, using a fake name, police said.
In April, Walters told the owners that she had been diagnosed with leukemia, a form of cancer. The Boohers organized a fundraiser earlier this month at which they held a cartwheel-a-thon and raised about $4,000, police said.
The hoax ended Sunday after Walters was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis where she said she needed emergency brain surgery. Erin Booher and a friend said they asked to speak to a counselor. When a doctor arrived, the pair told him about Walters' story and noticed that the doctor was smirking. The Boohers did Internet research and found Walters' former conviction in Muncie.
"I have never been so agonized in my entire life," Erin Booher said. The Boohers and police say Walters' story was convincing. All her hair was gone one day, including her eyelashes and eyebrows, Erin Booher said. The hair began to grow again, and Walters told the Boohers' 5-year-old daughter it was because of her prayers, police said. "She faked the whole thing, but it was very, very elaborate," Monroe County Detective Barb Beland said.
Erin Booher said she became suspicious when Walters said her heart had stopped at the hospital." She said that she flatlined and had a code blue at 1:20 in the afternoon, and she was back at her apartment by 5 in the evening," Booher said. At one time, Walters had her arm wrapped up with an intravenous port sticking out. At times, she injected herself with a clear liquid that also had a handwritten label. "They felt really sorry for her," Beland said.
6 comments:
A lady I worked with at Walgreens did the same thing. That is just sick. She pulled out her own hair to look like she was losing it... VERY PSYCHO!
Sounds like she has Munchausen Syndrome
Actually, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is when a mother or an individual purposely makestheir child ill, or pretends there is something wrong with their child so they can get attention for themselves.
I did some research online and there is a disorder for this and it is called "Factitious Disorder".
People with factitious disorders feign, exaggerate, or actually self-induce illnesses. Their aim? To assume the status of "patient," and thereby to win attention, nurturance, and lenience that they feel unable to obtain in any other way.
I actually knew this girl and had a class with this girl when I was at Ball State University. The credit union I worked at also had a fundraiser for her. I didn't find out about this until after I graduated. She had a lot of people fooled. During finals, she said she was at a children's hospital in TN, so the professor let her take her exams on the computer. I'm still shocked at it all.
Brooke is at it again. She lived with me (in Missouri) for over a year, saying she had cancer. She is now facing more felony charges.
I was in jail with her. My little violation of probation. I think shes at it again, I came across a GoFundMe account from a Brooke Walters from Indianapolis Indiana
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