Grabill woman accused of claiming child was terminally ill for financial gain facing new fraud charge

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - A 42-year-old Grabill woman accused of claiming her child was terminally ill for money and a Make-A-Wish trip is facing a new, unrelated fraud charge.

BACKGROUND: Decatur woman accused of claiming child was terminally ill for financial gain, Make-A-Wish trip

Katherine Jackson, who previously lived in Decatur, is charged with one count of fraud, accused of taking money from an employee of one of her former attorneys for a car she never delivered. The charges stem from last month.

The victim told police he worked part-time at the Samuel L. Bolinger and Associates Law Firm. Bolinger was representing Jackson in her prior fraud case until May of this year.

When told he was looking for a vehicle to purchase, Jackson allegedly told the victim she owns a car lot, Full Circle Auto, which is affiliated with Precision Auto Repair, located at 407 E. Till Road in Fort Wayne.

Indiana business records show Katherine McCleary as the owner of a business with that name at 3030 Lake Ave. in Fort Wayne. State marriage records show a woman with the same first, middle, and last name as Jackson marrying a man named Travis E. McCleary.

Online court records show a man named Travis E. McCleary with an address of 407 E. Till Rd.

The victim told police Jackson said she has an Auto Dealers License and could purchase a vehicle at a better price than the victim and offered to purchase the vehicle for him, court records show. The victim then gave Jackson a copy of the CARFAX of the vehicle he wanted to purchase, a 2017 Smart Fortwo for $11,476.

It was being sold by a dealership in Arlington, Virginia.

Jackson met the victim, who gave her $8,000, at the law firm in front of Bolinger, court documents say. She filled out a bill of sale for the vehicle and the victim signed it, with the suspect keeping the paperwork.

Court records say Jackson told the victim she had purchased the vehicle but never gave it to him. The victim gave police copies of texts and emails with her regarding the car, which Jackson claimed was delayed in getting to the victim because of repairs and additional tariffs.

She allegedly asked the victim for more money.

The victim asked Jackson for information about a dealer plate and information about its title, court documents say. He then contacted the original seller of the vehicle, who said the vehicle was sold to someone in New York.

The victim asked for his money back. Jackson allegedly did not return the money.

A warrant was issued for her arrest on Wednesday.

In the original case, Jackson was charged with two counts of neglect and one count of fraud last year after a doctor raised concerns that she may have been subjecting her daughter to medical child abuse.

A doctor who reviewed the child’s inpatient and outpatient medical records, spoke to multiple people involved in her care, and reviewed her prescriptions determined there was “extensive maternal falsification and likely induction consistent with medical child abuse,” court documents say.

The doctor said the girl suffered pain from blood draws, psychological distress from evaluations, and unnecessary radiation exposure. Another doctor involved in the child’s care said that while she suffers from a genetic mutation called Pilarowski-Bjornsson Syndrome, a chronic illness for which there is no cure, it is not a terminal diagnosis.

Investigators found that Jackson collected more than $1,500 from a GoFundMe that claimed her daughter had Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and suffered 80 to 90 seizures a day. It said she had six months to a year left to live and that she wanted to go to Walt Disney World and meet Princess Elsa with her mom and little sister.

The girl and her sister were removed from Jackson’s care in 2022.

In this case, Jackson is scheduled to go to trial in January.

RELATED: Woman claiming to raise money for cancer research arrested

More than a decade ago, Jackson was charged with eight counts of theft, one count of check fraud and one count of check deception in Warrick County.

Our sister station, WFIE, reported that Jackson, then going by the name Katherine Conapinski, misrepresented an organization collecting money for a boy with cancer, even collecting cash at the child’s funeral.

In that case, she accepted a plea deal and was not initially sentenced to prison time but was ordered to pay up to $20,000 in restitution.

Court records show she later violated her probation and was sentenced to four years in prison.

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