Please Help Us Bring Our Mother Home

To the people of Polk County, Florida, and to those willing to hear our family’s story:

We are asking for compassion and consideration for our mother, Sherell Breus, who was sentenced on June 5, 2026, by Judge Cassandra Denmark in Polk County, Florida, to 15 years in state prison for Medicaid fraud involving approximately $52,000.

We want to begin by saying something very clearly:

We are not asking anyone to excuse what she did.

We understand that Medicaid fraud is a serious offense. We understand that there must be consequences when someone breaks the law, and our family does not believe that my mother’s actions should simply be overlooked.

What we are asking is that the entirety of her circumstances be considered.

Because behind this conviction is a mother, a family, and a woman who is now facing a serious and potentially life-threatening illness.

My mother was a single mother who moved my brother and me from South Florida in 2019 because she wanted to create a better life for her children. Her decisions ultimately led her to make a serious mistake, and she must take responsibility for that mistake. But those who know her know that providing for her children has always been deeply important to her.

Today, that same family is facing the consequences alongside her.

My youngest brother is only three years old.

If my mother serves the entirety of her 15-year sentence, he could be 18 years old by the time she comes home.

He could grow up without his mother present for nearly his entire childhood.

She could miss his first days of school, birthdays, holidays, graduations, accomplishments, struggles, and the countless ordinary moments that a mother should have the opportunity to experience with her child.

There is no sentence that can give those years back.

But my youngest brother is not the only child who still needs his mother.

I am her eldest daughter, and I am 23 years old. I have spent the last four years in college, and even though I have been legally an adult for years, my mother has never stopped treating me like her baby.

When my mother built our current home, she did not exclude me from the life she was building simply because I was getting older. She continued to make sure that I was taken care of.

Throughout my years in college, my mother never asked me for a penny toward the household bills or mortgage. She supported me while I pursued my education and even paid for my transportation from Davenport, Florida, to the University of Central Florida so that I could continue going to school.

She did these things not because she was legally required to do them, but because she is my mother.

I am 23 years old. I understand that I am an adult. I understand that I am capable of taking care of myself.

But being an adult does not mean that you stop needing your mother.

It does not mean that you stop wanting to call her when something good happens, when something goes wrong, when you need advice, or when you simply need to hear her voice.

My mother still sees me as her baby.

And I still see her as my mom.

So when we talk about the impact of a 15-year sentence, we are not only talking about a three-year-old boy losing his mother during the most formative years of his life.

We are also talking about a 23-year-old daughter who is still growing into adulthood without the person who has supported her through some of the most important years of her life.

Her children may be different ages, but we all still need our mother.

And unfortunately, there is another circumstance that makes this situation even more urgent.

My mother has multiple tumors in her lungs that are growing.

Before her sentencing, she had been preparing to undergo surgery to have the tumors removed. She underwent multiple CAT scans and MRIs in an effort to understand and treat what was happening with her health.

The cost of these medical appointments and procedures placed her under tremendous financial strain. She fell behind on her attorney fees and even fell behind on the mortgage for the home where she raised her three children as a single mother.

This was not a woman whose life was stable when these proceedings reached their conclusion.

She was dealing with a criminal case, serious medical issues, mounting medical expenses, legal fees, and the responsibility of maintaining a home for her children.

We also have serious concerns about the circumstances surrounding the $52,000 restitution amount and what my mother understood would happen if she could not pay it.

My mother was under the impression that she had until June 5, 2026 to pay the approximately $52,000 in restitution, and that if she was unable to do so, her case would proceed to trial.

During this period, the attorney who had been representing her stopped responding to her calls and messages. He later requested to be removed from her case because he could not prepare for trial within the necessary timeframe.

According to what my mother understood, she was not present when this was orchestrated, and she had not been informed by the court that her attorney had been removed from her case.

Then June 5th arrived.

My mother desperately wanted the opportunity to explain what had been happening, to explain her medical condition, her financial circumstances, what she understood about her case, and what had happened with her representation.

Instead, she tells us that she was repeatedly instructed to remain silent.

We recognize that there are legal procedures, courtroom rules, and responsibilities that we may not fully understand as a family. We are not attorneys, and we do not pretend to know every legal issue involved in her case.

But we do know what it feels like to watch someone we love enter a courtroom carrying circumstances that we believe deserved to be heard.

And we know what it feels like to watch that person walk away with a 15-year sentence.

That is why we are asking for her case and sentence to be reconsidered.

We are not asking for her conviction to simply disappear.

We are asking whether there is another way to hold my mother accountable that does not require her to lose the majority of her child’s childhood.

We are asking for a reduced sentence or, if legally possible, for her to serve her sentence through an alternative form of supervision such as home confinement or an ankle monitor.

My mother should be held accountable for her actions.

But accountability does not have to mean abandoning someone to a prison cell while they are battling a serious illness.

It does not have to mean allowing a three-year-old child to grow into adulthood without his mother.

It does not have to mean taking a mother away from her 23-year-old daughter during the years when she is still becoming the woman her mother helped raise her to be.

It does not have to mean throwing away every possibility of rehabilitation, restitution, accountability, and reconciliation.

We believe there should be room for mercy.

We believe there should be room for rehabilitation.

We believe there should be room for a person to be held accountable without being defined forever by the worst decision they have ever made.

My mother is not asking anyone to say that what she did was right.

She is asking for the opportunity to live long enough to make things right.

She is asking for the opportunity to continue being a mother.

Her youngest child should not have to wait until adulthood to know his mother outside of prison walls.

And her oldest daughter should not have to learn how to navigate adulthood without the woman who spent the last four years helping her get there.

Our family should not have to wonder whether the woman we love will ever get the chance to come home.

We respectfully ask Polk County, Florida, Judge Cassandra Denmark, the appropriate state authorities, and anyone with the ability to advocate for my mother to reconsider the severity of her sentence and consider a reduced sentence, home confinement, electronic monitoring, compassionate release, or another lawful alternative that would allow her to remain accountable while still being present for her family.

We ask that her medical condition be taken seriously.

We ask that the circumstances surrounding her representation and understanding of the restitution requirement be examined.

We ask that her role as the mother of a three-year-old child be considered.

We ask that the continued impact of her absence on her adult children also be considered.

And above all, we ask that she be seen as a human being, not simply as a case number or a conviction.

Fifty-two thousand dollars is a serious amount of money.

What happened was serious.

But 15 years is also serious.

Fifteen years is a childhood.

Fifteen years is the amount of time it takes a three-year-old to become an eighteen-year-old.

Fifteen years is a significant portion of a person’s life, especially for someone who is already facing growing tumors in her lungs.

We cannot change what happened in 2019.

We cannot undo the decisions that brought our family here.

But we can ask for mercy today.

We can ask that my mother be given a chance to take responsibility, make amends, receive the medical care she needs, and remain a mother to the children who still need her.

Please sign this petition. Please share it. Please help our family make sure that my mother’s circumstances are not forgotten.

We are not asking you to excuse her actions.

We are asking you to remember her humanity.

We believe justice matters.

But we also believe mercy matters.

And we are asking for the chance to bring our mother home.With gratitude,

Breunna Thomas

On behalf of our family