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Madison Russo, 19, is charged with theft after falsely claiming to be suffering from cancer. (Scott County Jail)
An Iowa woman has been charged with theft after authorities found out that she falsely claimed to have leukemia and pancreatic cancer and received tens of thousands of dollars in donations.
Madison Russo, 19, said she had “leukemia, stage 2 pancreatic cancer and a tumor, the size of a football, that wrapped around her spine,” according to the Eldridge Police Department. Russo shared her “cancer journey” on social media, a GoFundMe page and in a local media interview. Witnesses with medical experience said they noticed many discrepancies in her social media posts and contacted police.
Medical professionals observed “terrible life-threatening inaccuracies of her medical equipment placement on her body,” according to court documents. Court documents also say that she took photos posted by real cancer patients and shared them as her own. Russo raised more than $37,000 from 438 donations on a GoFundMe page that has since been removed, according to the Muscatine Journal.
GoFundMe said that it has a “zero tolerance policy for misuse of our platform and cooperates with law enforcement investigations of those accused of wrongdoing. All donors have been refunded and we have removed this fundraiser. The beneficiary has also been banned from using the platform for any future fundraisers.”
St. Ambrose University has not confirmed if Russo spoke at its institution. Russo was booked into Scott County Jail before posting a $10,000 bond. She will be arraigned on March 2.
