3:45 p.m.The ex-Napa police dispatcher accused of fraud reportedly admitted to police investigators she lied about having ovarian cancer and used that lie to obtain slightly more than $50,000 in donations and city pay.

Her attorney, however, says money was never the reason for falsifying cancer claims, adding that she is mentally ill.

Dannille Vanderpool pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of grand theft and one each of forgery and identity theft and was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon on $50,000 bail. Vanderpool posted bail and is no longer being held in the county jail, said her attorney, Seth Chazin.

“Evidence obtained through search warrants revealed that Vanderpool never had or suffered from cancer,” noted officer Ron Appel of the Napa Police Department in court documents. “When interviewed, Dannille Vanderpool admitted to lying about her illness while accepting donations.”

Appel’s statement in court documents highlights how the police investigation proceeded, including uncovering evidence where police claim Vanderpool falsified medical forms from Kaiser Permanente, where she stated she was being treated for ovarian cancer and various side effects.

“She admitted that she did not have cancer and never had cancer,” noted Appel. “She admitted taking a Kaiser form, falsely filling it out and submitting it to the city ... she also acknowledged that she had taken money, goods and services from many individuals under the false pretense of having terminal cancer.”

Chazin said Vanderpool first made claims of having cancer back in 2001 but never accepted money or was offered money from fundraisers until 2007, so he said money was clearly not the reason behind her false cancer claims.

“It was because she had a psychiatric condition to cause her to erroneously report she had cancer,” said Chazin. “She was mentally ill.”

Vanderpool kept friends and family up-to-date on her supposed battle with cancer via a blog on a social networking Web site. In a December 2008 entry she listed various issues she stated she had been dealing with.

“I have had two heart attacks, two seizures ... somehow in the last eight years the cancer has spread from my ovaries to my liver, to my stomach, to my lungs and now my brain,” Vanderpool wrote.

Concerns within the police department arose when, shortly after posting her details about her illness, Vanderpool submitted a Kaiser form to her employer showing she was cleared to return to work full time in about one month.

Appel’s statement indicates Cmdr. Steve Potter of the Napa Police Department researched the Kaiser note because he was concerned, “that having Vanderpool return to dispatch work while suffering from seizures did not seem prudent or safe.”

Potter was unable to confirm through a visit to Kaiser that Vanderpool’s note was authentic, so he requested Appel begin his investigation, according to court documents.

“She was suffering from a mental disease at the time, she was diagnosed for it and we are still gathering information for it,” said Chazin. “That has been discovered by a mental health professional.”

Chazin declined to give the name of the physician treating Vanderpool.

Financial irregularities came up when Det. Darleen Elia, treasurer for the Napa Police Officers Association — the group overseeing a checking account where donations to Vanderpool were deposited — came across a $2,500 check to another bank. Elia, court documents show, was concerned donation money was being used for Vanderpool to purchase and remodel a Yajome Street home in Napa.

She questioned Vanderpool, who court documents state, denied using donations for purchasing a house.

The investigation led to numerous search warrants being issued for Vanderpool’s home, work, banks and medical records. Banking records detailed the amounts raised from fundraisers like $2,231 from a Mary’s Pizza Shack one.

Nearly $14,000 of the money came from Vanderpool being granted a total of 90 days of catastrophic leave for cancer treatments, according to court documents.

The review of medical records showed nothing to verify Vanderpool’s claims of having ovarian cancer.

“Warrants served on Kaiser Hospital for Vanderpool’s medical file failed to produce any records demonstrating diagnosis or treatment for cancer,” according to Appel’s investigation statement.

Vanderpool is due back in court May 28-29.