Home / News / Florida sheriff's deputy, 38, faked severe COVID and told colleagues she was in a COMA but was actually working a private sector job while her co-workers donated their own sick leave to make sure she'd still get paid

Florida sheriff's deputy, 38, faked severe COVID and told colleagues she was in a COMA but was actually working a private sector job while her co-workers donated their own sick leave to make sure she'd still get paid

 A Florida sheriff's deputy is in jail after being caught faking a severe COVID illness which she claimed put her in a coma, when she was in fact working in the private sector in a different job. 

Trent Kellee Freeman, 38, has been arrested for fraudulently claiming $3,700 from Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office in the form of paid sick leave that her co-workers donated to her out of sympathy. 

She told them that she couldn't work because of a severe COVID diagnosis, and even went as far as to tell bosses she was put in a coma for a period of time.

Freeman forged doctors' signatures to claim sick pay, according to a release put out by the sheriff's department on Wednesday. 

They started noticing inconsistencies in her requests, and asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate.

'Rather than being comatose in the hospital as she claimed, Freeman had in fact started working at a full-time private-sector non-law-enforcement job early in her scheme, one which she applied for prior to the filing of the initial fraudulent FMLA paperwork,' the release said. 

At a press conference on Thursday, the Gilchrist County Sheriff Bobby Schultz shamed her for lying to her colleagues and stealing from the department
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At a press conference on Thursday, the Gilchrist County Sheriff Bobby Schultz shamed her for lying to her colleagues and stealing from the department

At a press conference on Thursday, the Gilchrist County Sheriff Bobby Schultz shamed her for lying to her colleagues and stealing from the department.


'This was the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this.

'Obviously I’ve seen law enforcement officers get in trouble, to this magnitude of what she did and how she took advantage of the goodness of her fellow employees is saddening,' he said. 

Freeman is now being held in the Levy County Jail in Bronson, Florida, on a $50,000 bond. 

She turned herself in earlier this week.  

The Gilchrist County Sheriff's Department in Florida. She is being held on a $50,000 bond
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The Gilchrist County Sheriff's Department in Florida. She is being held on a $50,000 bond 

Florida sheriff's deputy, 38, faked severe COVID and told colleagues she was in a COMA but was actually working a private sector job while her co-workers donated their own sick leave to make sure she'd still get paid Florida sheriff's deputy, 38, faked severe COVID and told colleagues she was in a COMA but was actually working a private sector job while her co-workers donated their own sick leave to make sure she'd still get paid Reviewed by Your Destination on December 17, 2021 Rating: 5

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