Panama City woman in jail for alleged child starvation faces new fraud charges

PANAMA CITY — A local woman in jail for allegedly torturing her granddaughter for the past eight years faces new fraud charges with her girlfriend for lying about having dead family members, police say.

According to a Panama City Police Department press release, Terri Lynn Manning, 49, was charged with four counts of scheme to defraud and theft. Manning is currently in the Bay County Jail, charged with child abuse by willful torture in the form of starvation, child abuse resulting in mental injury and child abuse by aggravated battery.

Detectives are searching for her girlfriend, Kesha Roberts, who has eight felony warrants, including ongoing scheme to defraud.

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The press release states that in April, Manning and Roberts created a false story that Manning’s pregnant daughter and grandson were involved in a collision, were on life support and that the babies eventually died. Search warrants were executed on Manning’s phone and social media accounts, proving that those claims were false, the press release states.

Manning was arrested in June and held on a $1 million bond for allegedly torturing her 9-year-old granddaughter through starvation. The investigation revealed that Manning gained custody of the child eight years ago and had been starving her the entire time, police say. 

In addition, Manning allegedly took the child to multiple doctors and specialists where she misled them of the child’s condition. The child was subjected to several “invasive medical procedures and surgeries,” police say. 

According to one PCPD official, a member of one of the medical staffs reported their suspicions of child abuse to the Department of Children and Families.  

At the time of Manning’s arrest, the girl was in the first percentile of the growth chart. The child was removed within one week of DCF being notified of the alleged abuse and soon started to recover, records show.

Anyone having information in the fraud case is urged to call the Panama City Police Department at 850-872-3100, or report tips anonymously via smartphone by downloading the “Panama City PD” Tip411 app from the iOS or Google Play stores.