A 20-year-old Iowa woman pretended to have various forms of cancer in a scheme to get more attention from her family.
Despite starting a GoFundMe campaign, where she feigned terminal illness and garnered nearly $40,000, mostly from people on social media, she maintains now that none of this was for money.
Now a judge is mandating she give the money back.
Madison Russo, who was at the time an 18-year-old freshman at St. Ambrose University, told people on TikTok, GoFundMe, Facebook and LinkedIn that she had pancreatic cancer, leukemia, and a football-sized tumor around her spine, documenting her “battle” with the dreaded diseases on her social media platforms. However, this was later discovered to be a lie.
The ploy was exposed after 439 people, mostly strangers and cancer charities, poured in thousands of dollars in donations.
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According to the Eldridge Police Department, multiple witnesses with “medical experience” noticed “medical discrepancies” in Russo’s social media, like she was using the wrong kind of equipment for the cancer she said she had.
They then contacted detectives to investigate her claim. Russo’s medical records were then subpoenaed, and they showed she had “never been diagnosed with any kind of cancer or tumor from any medical facilities within the Quad Cities or surrounding cities.”
After being found out, the Bettendorf resident pleaded guilty in June 2023 to first-degree theft.
On Friday, Oct. 20, at a sentencing hearing at the Scott County Courthouse, Judge John Telleen gave Russo a 10-year suspended sentence, 100 hours of community service, and a fine of $1,370. She was also ordered to pay $39,000 in restitution. With a suspended sentence, Russo will not serve time in jail as long as she meets the conditions set by the judge.
Her defense attorneys pushed to have her receive a deferred judgment, which would clear her record if she completed probation successfully,…
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