Checked for blockage none found, turned power on to check for coil heating up, it didn't
One possibility is that the heater switch on the control panel ("User Interface") is shorted. I don't know what kind of switch this is (mechanical switch, relay or a solid-state device such as a triac), but you can test it with an ohmmeter. If it is a mechanical device, the contacts may have welded together, or if it is a solid-state switch the semiconductor junctions may have suffered a punch-through and melted. Test procedure: First, (you MUST have the dryer unplugged!) disconnect the heater connections from the panel. Next, check for continuity between the heater connection and the 240 V connections to the control panel. It should be possible to find a heater connection that is open for both 240 V connections with the heater control set to no heat. If both heater terminals are always connected to a 240 V terminal, the panel needs repair. (At $200+, it's worth fixing, and any competent electronic tech should be able to do it unless it's deliberately designed to be unserviceable.) Look for a schematic diagram in the dryer, either pasted to the back panel or in a set of service information documents enclosed in the control panel. That will help you identify the connections by wire color.
Once you have the control panel repaired, you can replace the thermal cutout.
It seems unlikely that a heater short to ground would cause your symptoms. The heater terminals are connected to 240 VAC (opposite phases of 120 VAC referred to neutral/ground potential). If one side is shorted to ground, your panel breaker would trip immediately (120 V shorted out), or if you connected one side of the heater to ground instead of its 120 V connection, you would only get half power to the heater.
If it getting hot it means coil (heater) is on. It sound to me that coil shorted out to the ground and that will cause the heater stay on.
In GE dryer there are 2 coils. Check the coils by removing the drum and inspecting coils.
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