Mother jailed for forcing daughter to fake illness for money

A woman in Pennsylvania has been sentenced to five years in prison for forcing her daughter to fake a serious illness and subjecting her to unnecessary medical treatment, Law & Crimereported.

"Shelley M. Noreika last summer pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements relating to health care matters concerning her then-5-year-old daughter," reported Jerry Lambe. "Noreika admitted that in February 2020 she fabricated serious illnesses and made fraudulent statements to health care providers in connection with her adopted daughter."

The daughter was subjected to a battery of unnecessary treatments as her condition was falsified to neurologists, including with a video of her faking a seizure, prosecutors said.

According to the report, prosecutors recognized Noreika's behavior was “consistent with factitious disorder imposed on another, formerly known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental illness in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury to a person under their care, to gain attention and sympathy for themselves.”

However, that was not the whole story — Noreika was also receiving "enhanced Medicare and adoption [subsidies]," as well as fraudulently obtaining money from local charities and online fundraising, all of which gave her financial incentive to continue the scheme.

The sentence, which was passed down on Friday, also includes nearly $140,000 in restitution to the people and organizations Noreika defrauded.