A 19-year-old has been arrested in Iowa and charged with charity fraud after he pretended to have cancer to accept donations.
Madison Russo was arrested this week by the Eldridge Police Department on a first-degree theft charge, which carries a maximum prison sentence of up to ten years if convicted.
She was arrested on Jan. 23, but has since bonded out. She is due back in court on March 2.
Police were tipped off about Russo's alleged scam after witnesses said they noticed serious discrepancies in her social media posts about her supposed cancer battle.
GoFundMe
The 19-year-old lied on TikTok and GoFundMe to get donations that ran into tens of thousands.
Cops allege Russo lied about 3 different diagnoses that she'd publicly been touting for at least a year, including leukemia, pancreatic cancer and a tumor "the size of a football."
Throughout much of 2022, Russo had gone viral on TikTok while documenting her health journey, which the authorities are now saying was completely made up, and which entered criminal territory after she raised upwards of $37k on GoFundMe from 439 donors.
On social media, she was often seen adorned in hospital-like paraphernalia: IV bags, tubes that ran through her nose and medical tape/gauze, suggesting she was undergoing treatment.
However, Eldridge PD said all of that was just an act.
Court documents reportedly lay out what police say they found at Russo's apartment. In addition to some of the medical supplies listed above, they allege they discovered a wig, pills for nausea in a relative's name and more.
Madison Russo was arrested this week by the Eldridge Police Department on a first-degree theft charge, which carries a maximum prison sentence of up to ten years if convicted.
In addition, Eldridge PD says they subpoenaed Russo's medical records and allege she'd never been diagnosed with cancer at any nearby hospitals. The cops say she got on their radar after people wrote in saying some of what they saw on social media seemed fishy.
Organisations that Russo had allegedly affiliated with during this time when she was presenting herself as poster child for cancer awareness are now distancing themselves.
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