Woman accused of using cancer to scam others

A Goldsboro woman is accused of defrauding well-meaning people of thousands by falsely telling them she had cancer.

Posted 12:51 a.m. Jan 10, 2009 — Updated 9:12 p.m. Mar 9, 2009

GOLDSBORO, N.C. — Wayne County sheriff's authorities arrested a Goldsboro woman on Friday after she was accused of lying to others about having brain cancer for financial gain.

Arrest warrants show the woman, Stacie Harrell Pittman, 31, of 117-B2 Fallin Blvd., has a history of convictions and charges of obtaining property by false pretenses.

In one instance, a neighbor, Christopher Hines, says he gave Pittman more than $16,000 for treatments that court documents say she never received. Authorities said they do not believe she has cancer.

Hines said Pittman told him her boyfriend was deployed overseas and that she needed money for treatment. Hines, a staff sergeant in the Air Force, said he felt sorry for her.

"So, I did it out of good faith, and I tried to help her," he said.

Pittman, he said, told him she was expecting a large commission check and would pay him back. Hines took out three bank loans to give her the money.

"I still owe them money, because I was scammed by somebody," he said.

She was arrested earlier this week on three charges of obtaining property by false pretenses in that case.

When the news hit the local Goldsboro paper, authorities said, local banks and businesses reported to the sheriff's office similar incidences allegedly involving Pittman.

That led to her arrest Friday on four counts of obtaining property by false pretense and three counts of attempting to obtain property by false pretense.

Wayne County sheriff's investigator Tom Flores said Pittman has gone by at least three different names – Stacie Harrell, Stacie Palmer and Stacie Kroll – and been charged with similar crimes in Carteret, Craven, Onslow and Pitt counties.

Court records indicate she has been convicted of several similar crimes in Craven County under the name Stacie Harrell. She was on probation at the time of her arrest.

WRAL News tried contacting Pittman Friday. No one answered the door at her home, and her phone number is unlisted.

Suggest A Correction