ZANESVILLE, Ohio (WTRF) — An Ohio woman has pleaded guilty to making hundreds of calls to emergency services, effectively using local first responders for unnecessary ambulance rides to the hospital, officials say.
Kesha Kennedy, 34, pleaded guilty to felony disrupting public services, felony making false alarms and 25 counts of misdemeanor misuse of 911 systems.
Kennedy will be sentenced at a later date.
Officials say that beginning in 2020, Kennedy called 911 almost 400 times, complaining of various illnesses. The South Zanesville Fire Department (SZFD) handled the responses and said they became strained by her improper and frequent use of emergency resources.
Ambulances and first responders transporting Kennedy for nonexistent emergencies say they were unavailable to service those experiencing actual emergencies.
According to Muskingum County Prosecutor Ron Welch, SZFD responders couldn’t respond to a call involving a person unable to breathe because they were transporting Kennedy for a fake call. The person with breathing trouble later died. In another case, SZFD was understaffed for a fire due to personnel attending to Kennedy.
Kennedy called 911 multiple times every week, sometimes calling for first responders several times on a single day, officials said.
At Genesis Hospital, Kennedy was repeatedly informed that she had no medical issues or emergencies. However, the hospital was forced to triage her every time she arrived. The taxpayers funded each transport and visit through Medicaid.
Before her plea, Kennedy was evaluated by a forensic psychologist. Muskingum County Assistant Prosecutor John Litle, who handled the case, stated in court that she demonstrated “a factitious disorder, which means that she’s a liar.”
Officials said Kennedy had a history of squandering the emergency resources of other counties, too. They say her behavior was similar in Licking, Guernsey, Franklin, and Cuyahoga counties.
In 2023, Kennedy was found guilty of misusing the 911 system in Licking County.
Newark Police Department officers had previously warned Kennedy on several occasions that subsequent non-emergency calls to 911 would result in her arrest.
On Aug. 23, 2023, law enforcement officers responded to a report of a behavioral emergency at Licking Memorial Hospital involving Kennedy. Officers questioned Kennedy, and she pretended she was suddenly unable to stand or walk.
After being helped into a sitting position on a bench, Kennedy pretended to be unconscious. She then pretended to wake up and told officers that she did not understand the meaning of being read her rights because she was disabled.
Newark law enforcement spoke with doctors at the hospital, who confirmed that Kennedy was not disabled, and did not need medical treatment or transfer to another hospital.
Muskingum County Assistant Prosecutor John Litle said better tracking of nuisance non-emergency calls to 911 would prevent abuse of the system.
“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.