When Nebraska detective Jerry Esch was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, GoFundMe didn’t even exist and it’s highly unlikely he imagined he’d be facing felony charges over it 7 years later. However, that’s exactly how this story unraveled according to The Hastings Tribune:
A former Hastings police detective has been accused of conning fellow officers and community members out of thousands of dollars to pay for medical expenses he never incurred.
Investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol allege that Jerry Esch wrote a deceptive post on GoFundMe.com, a crowdfunding website, according to an arrest affidavit in the case.
On a now-removed GoFundMe page, Esch wrote that he needed help with medication costs, some of which he put on his credit card, to the tune of $18,000. Investigators obtained his records from Blue Shield, however, and discovered that Esch was fully covered except for a $50 co-pay.
In their investigation, authorities discovered $27,000 in credit card debt — most of which was wholly unrelated to Esch’s medical needs — and payments to a divorce attorney, vehicle repairs, and other non-related but costly items.
Esch later told investigators he expected to receive more money if he said it was for cancer treatment rather than his true reason, poor financial decisions.
Just goes to show, you never know who to trust when it comes to crowdfunding. Even cops aren’t immune from GoFundMe fuckery.