Ohio Woman Pleads Guilty to Serial 911 Abuse, Resulting in Person’s Death

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Kesha S. Kennedy, 34, of Zanesville, Ohio, has pleaded guilty to what prosecutors have labeled "serial 911 abuse" after making hundreds of calls to emergency services for nonexistent emergencies. The Muskingum County Prosecutor's Office announced on Monday, July 15, that Kennedy’s actions led to significant misuse of local emergency resources and tragically contributed to one person’s death.
Kennedy appeared in Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas on Friday, July 12, before Judge Mark C. Fleegle. She pleaded guilty to felony disrupting public services, felony making false alarms, and 25 counts of misdemeanor misuse of 911 systems. The charges stem from nearly 400 false emergency calls made since 2020, many of which were placed multiple times a week and sometimes several times in a single day.
The Muskingum County Prosecutor's Office detailed in a news release how Kennedy exploited local first responders for her own amusement. "She effectively used local first responders for her personal entertainment for ambulance rides to the hospital, thus precluding emergency services from responding to actual emergencies," the release stated.
In one particularly grievous instance, the South Zanesville Fire Department (SZFD) was unable to attend to a person experiencing severe breathing difficulties because they were responding to one of Kennedy’s false alarms. "The person with breathing trouble later died. In another case, SZFD was understaffed for a fire, due to personnel attending to Kennedy," the release explained.
Despite repeated visits to Genesis Hospital, where medical staff confirmed that Kennedy had no medical issues or emergencies, she continued to call 911. These unnecessary ambulance transports and hospital visits were taxpayer-funded through Medicaid.
Muskingum County Assistant Prosecutor John Litle highlighted the severity of Kennedy's actions in court, stating, “350 pointless ambulance runs is absolutely ridiculous.” He further noted that Kennedy had been evaluated by a forensic psychologist, who determined she has a factitious disorder, meaning she frequently lies about her health.
"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," Litle added, emphasizing the need for systems to prevent such misuse of emergency services in the future.
The court heard that Kennedy’s repeated false calls not only endangered lives by diverting emergency services from genuine emergencies but also placed an undue financial burden on the community. SZFD and other local emergency services have not yet commented publicly on the case.
Kennedy will be sentenced at a later date. The outcome of her sentencing will likely focus on preventing further misuse of emergency services and addressing the systemic issues that allowed this abuse to continue for so long.
#KeshaKennedy #Serial911Abuse #EmergencyServices #MuskingumCounty #JohnLitle #FalseAlarms #PublicSafety
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