‘You are nothing but a con artist’: Judge tears into caregiver who faked Stage 4 cancer to derail trial for stealing cash, jewelry from elderly patients

by Colin Kalmbacher

A Pennsylvania caregiver who stole from her elderly clients and then pretended to have cancer in order to avoid the consequences of her actions will now spend a year or two behind bars.

In March, Shannon Lynn Eberhart, 48, originally pleaded guilty to two counts each of financial exploitation of an older adult or care dependent person, theft by unlawful taking, and receiving stolen property, as well as one count each of identity theft and access device fraud, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

This week, the defendant pleaded guilty to a suite of different but related crimes over the ensuing cancer deception: one count of unlawful use of a computer and two counts of identity theft.

On Wednesday, a judge, speaking harshly, sentenced Eberhart to at least one year minus a day up two years minus a day in the county jail. That time will be followed by 11 consecutive years of probation.

“You are nothing but a con artist who deceived the people who cared for you,” Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman said when handing down the sentence. “You betrayed every cancer patient, you betrayed the court system, you betrayed your attorney.”

In February 2023, an investigation by the Newtown Township Police Department led to the initial theft charges in the case. Investigators determined Eberhart stole jewelry and cash from two victims she was meant to care for and made unauthorized withdrawals from a victim’s bank account, the district attorney’s office said in a press release.

The thefts began soon after Eberhart was employed, authorities said. Some losses were characterized as more emotional than financial.

“It was not about the monetary value,” Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber said. “These were pieces of heirloom jewelry handed down from generation to generation, now gone.”

As the legal process played out, Eberhart waived her preliminary hearing and her formal arraignment. Several pretrial hearings were scheduled and canceled. Then, one month before a hearing scheduled for December 2023, the DA’s office received what seemed like a medical document from Eberhart’s defense attorney — along with a request for a continuance, or pause, in her criminal case.

The document, which appeared to have been issued by a Montgomery County hospital, claimed the defendant was suffering from stage 4 esophageal cancer and needed further treatment.

That document was a forgery, an investigation determined.

“Bucks County detectives contacted the two doctors named in the letter and both said they never authored the letter and never treated Eberhart,” the DA’s office said Representatives of the hospital also confirmed that the letter was fake and contained several inaccuracies, including the official name of the hospital and its logo. The two doctors named in the letter also never worked at their hospital.”

The investigation also determined the document was created on a computer and contained a “digitally created logo and headers, footers, and margins,” according to the Bucks County press release.

Once the fake was uncovered, the process moved on.

“The Defendant compounded her crimes against the elderly by attempting to continue her manipulation in the Court system,” Furber said. “She failed, but not for lack of trying. This case should be a lesson to those who are in positions of trust for elderly or disabled individuals. That trust should be upheld at all costs.”

Eberhart’s victims remarked on that trust relationship.

“Shannon’s actions here are unforgivable,” one of the victims said during the sentencing hearing. “These pieces of jewelry tell stories of my family, past and present, and can never be replaced.”

A family member of another victim testified they once grieved with Eberhart — providing flowers and condolences when she told them her mother had died. As it turned out, however, the defendant’s mother is alive and well — she attended her daughter’s sentencing hearing.

The judge, before issuing the sentence, upbraided the defendant’s actions as “despicable and unfathomable.”

Eberhart was also ordered by the court to pay $32,835 in restitution to three victims, to undergo mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, and she is barred from ever again working as a caregiver.

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‘You are nothing but a con artist’: Judge tears into caregiver who faked Stage 4 cancer to derail trial for stealing cash, jewelry from elderly patients