DALLAS — A Texas mother and social media influencer is accused of medical child abuse, also known as Munchausen by proxy, against her three-year-old daughter, officials and court documents said.
Law enforcement arrested Jessica Gasser at her home in Tatum, southeast of Longview, for allegedly having her child receive 28 needle sticks for blood draws that allegedly weren’t necessary, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The affidavit outlined that the abuse included visits and procedures at doctor’s offices across the state and country.
The affidavit accused Gasser of “doctor shopping” and going to a dozen doctor’s offices, including Children’s Medical Center in Dallas and Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.
Medical professionals from five different facilities noted suspicions of medical child abuse following the visits.
“They’re presenting a false medical history to a medical provider, who rely on that history to form a diagnosis,” Det. Michael Weber, who investigated the case, said. “This abuse is not rare. It’s rarely recognized and even more rarely investigated.”
Initially, a doctor at Texas Medical Center ordered a feeding tube [NG tub] for Gasser’s daughter after a visit where Gasser would have reported results from a calorie count study, the affidavit said. The doctor told Weber they never doubt results parents share unless there are already reported issues with falsifying information.
In November 2021, Children’s Medical Center in Dallas ruled out a diagnosis of gastroparesis or delayed stomach emptying after two negative tests, according to the affidavit. In April 2022, Dell Children’s in Austin also ruled out the issue and, according to the affidavit, offered to remove the feeding tube because Gasser’s daughter was doing so well, but she refused.
Then, in June 2022, a doctor at McLane Children’s Hospital in Temple, TX made the first Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) report against Gasser when she was caught several times venting her daughter’s feeding bag, meaning that formula wouldn’t go into the tube, the affidavit said.
In October of 2022, her primary care provider in Longview also filed a report to DFPS after having no explanation for why the child wasn’t gaining weight. Gasser was also saying her daughter had Ketotic Hypoglycemia, a blood sugar illness. In January of 2022, Children’s Medical Center in Dallas ruled out that diagnosis.
After the two reports to DFPS, Facebook messages show Gasser messaged a friend, “We're discussing just leaving Texas ASAP. I don’t even have to tell CPS right?" the affidavit said.
She also messaged about deleting social media accounts including her Facebook page, Instagram, and a TikTok account with 24,000 followers. On all three pages, she posted about her daughter’s health frequently and used hashtags for the different illnesses she told medical professionals her daughter had even after she’d been told her daughter was healthy, the affidavit said.
“Any saved social media messages that someone may have, any text message, any emails from the suspect about the health of the children is important to my investigation,” Weber said. it’s her own words saying what the health of her children is.”
She also used social media to raise money and collected $685 for a GoFundMe with a goal of $5,000 to get care at Cleveland Clinic, according to the affidavit said. Despite having doctors in both Dallas and Austin rule out gastroparesis in 2021 and 2022, she applied to Miracle Flight, which provides free flights for medically complicated children, for help to get to Cleveland for care. The charity paid more than $1,600 for the flight.
Cook Children’s contacted the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office in February of 2023 to report suspicion of medical child abuse. During a visit that month, Gasser's daughter had blood drawn involving 28 needle sticks. The blood tests were to test for Ketotic Hypoglycemia again. That testing is what led to the Tarrant County charge for medical child abuse.
“It’s a crime like any other crime and it should be investigated like any other crime,” Weber said. “These offenders know what they’re doing is wrong.”
A month later in March, Gasser posted on TikTok that her daughter’s blood sugar had crashed during a doctor’s office visit that lasted two and a half hours, but the visit had been a 15-minute phone call, according to the affidavit.
After DFPS met with her in March, she deleted videos on social media going back to January of this year, according to the affidavit.
Gasser also began commenting on social media that her daughter may need a wheelchair, but Weber wrote in the affidavit doctors told him there was no need for one.
The affidavit said she requested Cook Children’s doctors put a central IV line (PICC) on her daughter, which would give her access to her daughter’s blood.
In May, she refused to do a follow-up appointment at Cook Children’s and scheduled an appointment at a hospital in Temple when she requested the IV line again, the affidavit said. The doctor she saw in Temple, though, also said a port placement was not needed.
In June, DFPS removed Gasser’s daughter and took her to Cook Children’s for care.
According to the affidavit, computer records show Gasser searched for, “can investigators pull my social media data without a warrant”, "How do you fix Munchausen by Proxy” and “is lying to a doctor illegal."
According to state records, Medicaid allegedly paid more than $200,000 for her daughter’s care during the two years of office visits.
The affidavit says Gasser’s daughter has been “thriving” now that she’s no long receiving medical care and is in placement.