Zanesville woman charged after unnecessarily calling 911 nearly 400 times since 2020

ZANESVILLE − A Zanesville woman recently entered guilty pleas to charges related to making hundreds of calls to emergency services, effectively using local first responders for ambulance rides to the hospital, according to the Muskingum County Prosecutor's Office .

Keisha S. Kennedy, 34, was indicted in April with disrupting public service and making false alarms, both fourth-degree felonies, and 53 counts of misuse of the 911 system, all fourth-degree misdemeanors. A sentencing hearing with Judge Mark Fleegle is yet to take place. As part of a plea deal, counts three through 29 of the indictment were dropped.

The prosecutor's office said Kennedy, starting in 2020, called 911 almost 400 times, complaining of various illnesses. The South Zanesville Fire Department handled the responses and became strained by her improper and frequent use of emergency resources. Ambulances and first responders transporting Kennedy for non-existent emergencies were unavailable to service those experiencing actual emergencies, the prosecutor's office said in a press release.

For example, SZFD responders were unable to 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, the fire department was understaffed for a fire, due to personnel attending to Kennedy. She called 911 multiple times every week, sometimes calling for first responders several times on a single day, the release said.

At Genesis Hospital, Kennedy was repeatedly informed 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, the release stated.

Before her plea, Kennedy was evaluated by a forensic psychologist. Muskingum County Assistant Prosecutor John Litle, who handled the case, stated in court she demonstrated “a factitious disorder, which means that she’s a liar.”

In addition to her misuse of the Muskingum County 911 service, Kennedy has a history of squandering the emergency resources of other counties too. She has behaved in the same way in Licking, Guernsey, Franklin and Cuyahoga counties.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Zanesville woman charged after unnecessarily calling 911 nearly 400 times since 2020