Woman pleads guilty
to theft in cancer scam

5/24/2013

BOWLING GREEN — A former McComb, Ohio, woman who faked a cancer diagnosis to get financial support pleaded guilty Wednesday in Wood County Common Pleas Court.

Kimberlie Gustwiller, 39, of Findlay is to be sentenced July 19 by Judge Alan Mayberry for one count of theft from an elderly person or disabled adult.

Gustwiller admitted to taking at least $8,000 from individuals and businesses in North Baltimore and McComb last September after saying she had been diagnosed with Stage IV non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

When suspicions were raised about her diagnosis, North Baltimore police began investigating and learned she did not have cancer.

Gustwiller faces up to three years in prison.

Prosecutors also are seeking restitution for victims; the amounts are to be determined at the time of sentencing.