An Iowa woman has pleaded guilty to a cancer scam that led to her arrest earlier this year for theft, after swindling unsuspecting donors out of over $37,000.
According to Quad Cities, Madison Russo pleaded guilty Wednesday at the Scott County Court to first-degree theft, following a scam between February 2022 and February 2023 that 439 people donated to.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Russo, who was 19 at the time, claimed to have acute lymphoblastic leukemia, stage 2 pancreatic cancer, and a football-sized tumor wrapped around her spine.
Eldridge police said Russo shared her fake story not only on GoFundMe but also to the North Scott Press and on social media. She also shared her false story with a Project Purple podcast, the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, and with numerous private businesses.
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Russo’s plan began to unravel when witnesses with medical experience who observed medical inconsistencies in Russo’s social media photos reported the false claims to the police.
According to an arrest affidavit, certain photographs were sourced from the social media profiles of genuine cancer patients and were deceitfully presented as Russo’s own. Investigators issued a subpoena for Russo’s medical records and discovered that she had never received a cancer diagnosis in the Quad Cities or neighboring areas.
Russo initially pleaded not guilty earlier this year but later took a plea deal to the class C felony, which is subject to a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
Sentencing will be scheduled for a later date. Check back for updates.
Listen to a previous episode on the case:
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