Brookelyn Walters, a former Ball State student who police say faked having cancer and deafness, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to two counts of theft Monday morning during her first trial hearing.
Walters was charged in October 2004 with three counts of forgery and two counts of theft.
Randy Hyman, dean of students, said last fall that Walters told the school she had cancer and was deaf, but neither was true.
If Walter's plea is accepted, the three counts of forgery would be dismissed and she would be placed on probation for four years, Jay Hirschauer, Walter's defense attorney, said.
Because she has pleaded mental illness, Walters would have to continue the mental health counseling she has received since April. Two doctors have diagnosed her with somatoform disorder, Hirschauer said.
Somatoform disorder occurs when a person has a "symptom of body dysfunction believed to have a psychological link," David Perkins, professor of psychology, said.
"There's an apparent defect but no biological cause," Perkins said. Hirschaeur could not comment on Walter's somatoform disorder because it is privileged information.
While Perkins is not familiar with the Walters case, he said normally people with somatoform disorder don't display cancer symptoms. The disorder usually manifests itself as a sensory or motor problem, such as a gymnast under a lot of pressure who becomes paralyzed but has no physical reason, he said.
"The person is not having to do anything underhanded," Perkins said. "The person wouldn't have to do that, because they would actually have the symptoms."
An affidavit for probable cause filed with the court on Oct. 21, 2003, stated Walters admitted to forging two letters and a form by signing them as a medical doctor. Perkins said if she had to forge such letters to prove her disability and illness, then it isn't a true case of somatoform disorder but is rather more like malingering.
Malingering is the intentional production of false or exaggerated symptoms for external incentives, according to emedicine.com. Perkin's said this could be a potential flaw in the mental illness plea from a psychological standpoint but said the doctors' diagnoses might not be precise.
"What [Hirschaeur] says is one thing and what [the doctors] might actually say could be a little more ambiguous," Perkins said.
Walter's plea is not official but was presented to be taken under advisement by the judge. The ruling as to whether the judge will accept the plea at the next trial date on Jan. 13.
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