Madison Russo was arrested in January and charged with theft by deception for falsely claiming to have pancreatic cancer to extract nearly $38,000 from unsuspecting donors.
An Iowa woman who falsely claimed she had cancer and embezzled nearly $38,000 from unsuspecting GoFundMe donors has been ordered to pay restitution.
On Friday, Madison Russo was sentenced to 10 years probation, the Associated Press reports. While Russo avoided jail time, Judge John Telleen ordered her to pay $39,000 in restitution and a $1,370 fine. Her sentence includes 100 hours of community service.
If he successfully completes three years of probation, he will remain free. However, Judge John Telleen denied a defense request that would have expunged the conviction from her record after her probation ends.
He said people should know that Russo was once involved in a “criminal scheme” and that “serious crimes must have serious consequences,” according to the AP.
“With this scheme, you have defrauded your friends, your family, your community, other cancer victims, charities and strangers who were motivated by your supposedly tragic story to donate to help you,” Telleen said.
Madison Russo. GoFundMe
In October 2022, Russo, then a 19-year-old student at the University of St. Ambrose, claimed in posts on various social media sites, including TikTok and Facebook, that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
She also spoke about her alleged diagnosis North Scott Press. “I feel like I’m shaken to the core, and everything is kind of uncertain right now,” she told the Iowa newspaper. “I just want to know my game plan, and right now I don’t know what that is.”
She claimed an 11% five-year survival rate. “At the age of 19, I don’t know if I will live to see the day when I graduate college, get married or become a mother. In the meantime, I will fight,” she told North Scott Press.
Russo then raised nearly $38,000 from more than 400 donors to a GoFundMe page she created by falsely claiming she had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, stage II pancreatic cancer and a football-sized tumor wrapped around her spine, the Eldridge Police Department said. time in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
Woman who used fake story to defraud GoFundMe donors of $400,000 pleads guilty
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Her claims began to unravel when medical professionals came forward and said they noticed “many medical discrepancies” in her story, according to the affidavit. Eldridge police subsequently requested Russa’s medical records and determined that she had never been diagnosed with cancer at any medical facility in the Quad Cities area.
Police also searched Russo’s apartment in Bettendorf, Iowa, “where officers found items of evidentiary value,” the statement said. According to court documents obtained by KWQC, investigators seized bank records, medical supplies, an IV pole and a feeding pump, among other items.
A police investigation also revealed that Russo “accepted private donations from other businesses, non-profit organizations, school districts and private citizens.”
Russo was arrested Jan. 23 and charged with theft by deception, a Class C felony. She pleaded guilty in June to first-degree theft.
During her court appearance Friday, Russo said she made up her fake cancer diagnosis in an attempt to reconcile her family.
“A lot of people speculated about why I did it and how someone who looked like she had it all together could have such a mess,” she said, AP reports. “I didn’t do this for money or greed. I didn’t do this for attention. I did this as an attempt to bring my family back together.”
Russo also apologized to her victims. “I fully admit that what I did was wrong. And I’m incredibly sorry,” she said. “If there was anything I could do to give it back, I would. The reality is that I can’t.”
Scott County District Attorney Kelly Cunningham recommended the prison sentence because Russo had no criminal record, had good grades in college, was employed and was unlikely to commit a crime in the future, the AP reported.
Russo previously paid $39,000 in restitution, and the money has been withheld from the court. GoFundMe has already returned money to donors.
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE after Russo’s arrest in January, GoFundMe said it “has a zero-tolerance policy for abuse of our platform and is cooperating with law enforcement investigations against those accused of wrongdoing.”
“All donors have been refunded and we have removed this fundraiser,” the statement continued. “The user is also barred from using the platform for any future fundraisers. GoFundMe’s Giving Guarantee offers a full refund in the rare event something goes wrong; this is the first and only donor protection guarantee in the fundraising industry.”
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Source: HIS Education