A 34-year-old woman named Kesha Kennedy from Ohio has been arrested and charged after making nearly 400 fake 911 emergency calls.
Kesha Kennedy is facing serious consequences after repeatedly abusing the emergency 911 system.
Over four years, Kennedy made nearly 400 bogus calls to 911, claiming to be unwell on each occasion.
The woman’s false emergency calls have had serious consequences.
The South Zanesville Fire Department (SZFD) responded to these calls, putting a significant strain on local emergency services.
In one tragic incident, the SZFD diverted its attention from a person genuinely in need of medical assistance due to Kennedy’s hoax call.
This person later died as a result of not receiving timely care.
According to the report, the woman would call 911 several times a week, sometimes even multiple times per day.
Despite doctors consistently giving her a clean bill of health after hospital visits, she continued making bogus emergency calls.
Charges and claims against the woman
Prosecutors have stated that Kennedy demonstrated a “factitious disorder”
They claimed that she was intentionally fabricating or exaggerating her symptoms.
The repeated false alarms and misuse of the 911 system led authorities to charge her with disrupting public services and making false alarms.
Additionally, she faces 25 counts of misdemeanor misuse of 911 systems.
Impact on emergency services
The strain placed on the emergency services by Kennedy’s actions was significant.
Each time she was transported to the hospital by ambulance, the cost was covered by taxpayers through Medicaid.
The South Zanesville Fire Department responded to countless unnecessary calls, preventing them from attending to genuine emergencies.
Law enforcement had previously warned Kennedy that her behavior could lead to her arrest. However, an incident in August 2023 finally led to her arrest.
When the police arrived at the Licking Memorial Hospital, Kennedy claimed she couldn’t stand or walk and then pretended to be unconscious.
However, the hospital later confirmed that she did not have a disability and did not need medical treatment.
The woman faces jail time for her action
Kennedy’s sentencing is still to come.
Her repeated offenses and the serious consequences of her actions suggest she might get a long prison sentence.
Muskingum County Assistant Prosecutor John Litle stated that,
“Obviously some type of check or balance needs to exist, so that this type of abuse is more quickly reported by EMS to law enforcement because 350 pointless ambulance runs is absolutely ridiculous,” Litle said.
“I was absolutely shocked when this case was brought to my attention by South Zanesville Police Chief Mark Ross.
We reached out to the Sheriff’s Office for an investigation and Detective Richard Perry was able to quickly lock down a case and get this abuse stopped.”