‘She needs help:’ Ohio native charged again with faking cancer diagnosis

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – An Adams County-native faces charges in Georgia after faking a cancer diagnosis, allegedly the second time she’s done so.

Jessica Krecskay was convicted in Kenton County in 2019 on charges of collecting nearly $15,000 while pretending to have cancer.

Krecskay raised the money from coworkers at a weight-loss business where she worked from 2013-2017, telling them she was dying due to ovarian cancer that had metastasized. She was open about her diagnosis and even shaved her head.

Krecskay’s coworkers grew suspicious after she passed out at work. The security video confirmed she had simply lied down on the floor and was even texting on her phone moments prior to her coworkers finding her.

One former friend said Krecskay used the money to take a trip to Disney with her family. The friend recalled Krecskay told her the trip would be her last vacation because she only had days to live.

A Kenton County judge sentenced Krecskay in September 2019 to 60 days in jail and five years probation.

“I was incredibly angry,” Alison Chestnut, a former friend and high-school classmate of Krecskay, said Wednesday. “It happened right after I lost a friend to cervical cancer.”

In early March, Krecskay, going with the surname Pizutto, was arrested in Columbia County, Georgia on similar charges.

Court documents claim Krecskay got a free week of PTO and got coworkers to give her gift cards, various items and possibly monetary donations after telling them her son had been diagnosed with cancer in May 2021.

The coworkers contacted police after someone anonymously emailed them saying Krecskay had done it before.

“With the conviction in Kenton County and the new accusations, it really makes you wonder, was this all fake too?” Chestnut said.

Chestnut recalls Krecskay missed a lot of days in high school. “She would come back and tell us how she’s sick with Chron’s Disease or different ailments.”

There’s no evidence Krecskay has ever had cancer or Chron’s Disease, according to the Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

“We would be in the middle of class and she would just faint,” Chestnut continued. “Whenever she would faint, it was always somewhere like at a desk or somewhere where, when her head dropped, it wouldn’t drop straight to the floor.”

Chestnut says Krecskay did not ask for donations from her high-school classmates but now doubts if she was ever really sick.

“She needs help,” she said. “I personally feel like she’s not going to stop.”

Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders is working with Georgia law enforcement on the investigation. If the allegations are true, Sanders says his office will seek to revoke Krecskay’s probation and send her to prison.

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