What to Know
- A woman accused of conning several people in New Jersey and Pittsburgh wrote a public apology on Facebook.
- Kiley White, 26, allegedly pretended to have brain cancer in order to trick a New Jersey family.
- White was charged for the Egg Harbor Township incident but other people came forward saying she conned them as well.
A woman accused of tricking a New Jersey family into thinking she was dying of brain cancer and pulling similar fraud in Pittsburgh and South Jersey wrote a lengthy public apology on Facebook.
"First and foremost, to those I have hurt - purposefully or not - from the absolute depth of my soul, I am sorry," Kiley White wrote Friday. "Words could never express just how many tears I have shed over knowing I contributed to the heartache of another human being."
In the post, White goes on to explain her actions and thought process while remaining apologetic.
"I don't know much but what I do know is that my inability to love myself has left me with the need to find people who do," she wrote. "The way I have done that is clearly so beyond wrong. It’s taken advantage of peoples feelings, robbed them of their emotions and broken their hearts when they found out it was all a lie."
On July 12, White, 26, was charged with theft by deception and harassment after allegedly taking advantage of Linda and Steve Evans of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.
"All night long, she would be moaning and groaning and I would be massaging her legs," Linda Evans said in an interview. "Every day was just like she has one more day to live."
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Police believe it was all a hoax.
White met the Evans through a mutual friend in early June. The couple said they took her in because White said she had no safe place to spend her final days due to a traumatic family history.
"It was all lies — all lies. And I just want this girl exposed," Linda Evans said.
White stayed with the Evans family for about five straight weeks.
Nearly every day White would leave the house to supposedly visit a hospital in Philadelphia. But the Evans now believe she was babysitting and working at a local restaurant instead.
White pulled off a complicated lie, police allege.
"During the investigation, Egg Harbor Township police discovered that Ms. White pretended to be other individuals as well, including her own hospice nurse," Detective Sgt. Cherie Burgan said in a statement.
The Evans showed purported text messages from White's "nurse" that provided medical instructions.
"It's just amazing that someone could come up with that elaborate of a story and have verifications along the way," Steve Evans said.
The family went to police after their relatives got suspicious and discovered a similar scheme in the Pittsburgh area.
Burgan confirmed that the alleged Egg Harbor incident isn't believed to be White's first foray into such deception.
"It has been documented that White has used similar tactics on other occasions in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but she has never been charged with a crime," Burgan said. "On each occasion, she has preyed on the sympathy and compassion of others, receiving services and goods from those victims whom she scammed."
After her arrest, White was issued a summons for a future court date.
NBC10 tried to get comment from White at a Galloway Township home where she's now staying.
"I don't have any comments," White said through a window.
White wrote about the Evans family in her Facebook post however.
"My lies were to desperately hang onto a rope with blistering hands, willing to do anything to keep this family I thought I had," White wrote. "Looking back, maybe they would have loved me without all that nonsense. Just me. Just Kiley from Pittsburgh with a crappy past. I’ll never know that now, but will probably wonder about it for all the rest of my days."
The Evans said they spent close to $1,000 on White but the alleged fraud also had an emotional cost.
"I was shaken, totally shaken to my core," Linda Evans said, her voice breaking. "Because here I loved on a girl that never existed and gave everything."
Evans added: "She needs help — she needs serious help."
After NBC10 aired the initial story on White, an administrator for a Galloway Township, New Jersey, church came forward, alleging she pulled a similar stunt last year.
"We know the emotion of that and the emotional pain that went through it," Mike Bult of Mainland Baptist Church said.
Bult told NBC10 a member of Mainland Baptist Church was conned into giving White hundreds of dollars for housing-related costs. Police investigated but say no charges were filed after White confessed to lying, apologized and repaid the money.
"Our goal was to see her get help," Bult said.
After White was charged for the Egg Harbor Township incident, police are taking another look at the Galloway Township case.
"I think we're going to revisit our case to see if we have enough evidence moving forward to change on our end," Galloway Township Police Chief Donna Higbee said.
Galloway Township Police said White agreed to get help following the incident at Mainland Baptist Church but continued to con other people.
"She threw that all away," Chief Higbee said. "She looked a gift horse in the mouth and decided to go on her own and continue to victimize people."
Besides Evans and Bult, other people came forward and accused White of tricking them with a similar story.
"She was an awesome actress," Judy Levy of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania said.
Levy told NBC10 White stayed with her in her Pittsburgh home for three months in 2014.
"It just made my blood boil that she's still doing it to other people," Levy said.
While some who commented on White's public Facebook post remained outraged over her alleged actions, others offered her prayers and urged her to get help.
"I am sorry to everyone I have hurt in this process," White wrote. "I am sorry that your lives were turned upside down, your reputations ruined and your hearts played with. I am more sorry than you will ever, ever know."
