Chattanooga: Woman accused of breast cancer fraud appears in court

Keele Maynor’s body language suggested timidity, but when the former city employee accused of faking breast cancer and taking money during her alleged illness spoke in Hamilton County Criminal Court on Friday, her voice sounded softly confident.

When Judge Don Poole asked her how long she had been in custody, she replied, “Feb. 19.” When the judge asked if she had a lawyer, Ms. Maynor, wearing glasses and a muted dark-blue prison jumpsuit, said, “No.”

The public defender’s office was assigned to represent Ms. Maynor, who next will appear in court April 14. She will enter a plea at the later hearing.

Her bond has been set at $100,000.

The arraignment hearing was the first time Ms. Maynor, who is accused of swindling more than $100,000 from the city, charitable organizations and friends, appeared publicly since she quit her job as an administrative assistant in the Department of Land Use Development in December 2008.

She was arrested last month in Union City, Ga., on nine counts of theft and fraud.

It did not appear that Ms. Maynor had any family or friends in the courtroom.

Chattanooga police and the city auditor’s office had been investigating Ms. Maynor since mid-December, when Ms. Maynor sent a letter to her supervisor admitting that she had been “untruthful” with her supervisors and fellow employees.

She had received more than $79,000 in wages and benefits from the city as a result of her faking a battle with breast cancer and more than $13,000 in gifts and donations from fellow employees, said Stan Sewell, director of internal audit for the city.

“That’s most likely a very low number in terms of the amounts that occurred,” he said.

That figure does not include benefits and gifts received from local agencies and friends during the five years Ms. Maynor pretended to have breast cancer.