Authorities say a lady in Iowa lied about having pancreatic cancer and leukemia to raise tens of thousands of dollars in donations.
According to a news release from the Eldridge Police Department, 19-year-old Madison Russo has been charged with stealing after claiming to have “leukemia, stage 2 pancreatic cancer, and a tumor the size of a football that wrapped around her spine.”
Russo talked about her “cancer journey” in a local media interview, on social media, and on a GoFundMe page. Witnesses who said they knew about medicine told The Kansas City Star that Russo’s social media posts had “several medical contradictions,” and they told the authorities.
According to court filings, medical specialists noticed “severe life-threatening inaccuracies” in her medical equipment’s installation on her body.” Instead of a medical facility, other images appeared to have been taken at Russo’s flat.
Additionally, according to court filings, she reposted pictures submitted by cancer victims as her own.
She claimed to have received leukemia and pancreatic cancer diagnoses on February 10 and February 10, 2022, respectively, in an interview with the North Scott Press on October 18. Before identifying the spinal tumor, she said that doctors had given her a “slim 11% survival rate for five years.” Despite her alleged medical concerns, Russo claimed she continued to enroll in classes at St. Ambrose University, had a strong GPA, and interned at John Deere.
According to the Muscatine Journal, Russo received 438 donations on a GoFundMe page that has since been deleted, raising more than $37,000.
According to the police, Russo also discussed her “cancer journey” at St. Ambrose University, The National Pancreatic Foundation in Chicago, and a podcast for Project Purple Online. It was “inadvertently named,” the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation claimed in a news release.
The foundation said that this was untrue. “We can attest that the alleged speaker has never interacted with the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation and has never spoken at any of our events. It saddens us to learn that someone would fabricate a cancer diagnosis.”
In a statement to McClatchy News, GoFundMe claimed to have a “We have a zero-tolerance policy for platform abuse and work with law authorities to investigate those who are allegedly guilty of crimes. We have taken down this campaign after refunding every donation. Also prohibited from using the site in the future for fundraising is the benefactor.”
She was arrested on Jan. 23 and charged with theft by deceit after allegedly stealing money from contributors, according to a news release from the police.
