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CINCINNATI (AP) — The Latest on a woman accused of pretending to be a doctor and making up a story about her son having terminal cancer (all times local):
9:10 p.m.
The GoFundMe fundraising website says people who gave money to an Ohio woman accused of making up a story about her son having terminal cancer will get refunds if it turns out she scammed them.
A GoFundMe spokesman said Wednesday donors are protected in the rare case a fundraising campaign is misused.
Prosecutors say Monika Burgett shaved her son's eyebrows and head and took photos of him to post on the GoFundMe site to raise $40,000. They told jurors at her trial she convinced doctors at a Cincinnati hospital she was a doctor while they cared for her 3-year-old son.
Burgett's lawyer acknowledges she lied about being a doctor but says she was trying to help her son, who now lives with his father in Texas.
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12:05 p.m.
Ohio prosecutors say a woman pretended to be a doctor to get unnecessary medical treatment for her preschool-age son, who she falsely claimed had terminal cancer.
A Hamilton County prosecutor told jurors Tuesday that 39-year-old Monika Burgett falsely claimed her 3-year-old son had cancer and convinced relatives and doctors at a Cincinnati hospital that she was a doctor. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports (http://cin.ci/2uoHIwu ) Burgett's son was treated with drugs including methadone before doctors reported suspected child abuse to the county's family services.
The now-5-year-old boy was removed from Burgett's custody in 2016. Court records show he lives with his father.
Burgett is on trial for child endangering and other offenses.
Her attorney says Burgett was trying to get help for her son's medical problems but lied about being a doctor.
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