A 19-year-old has been arrested and booked in Iowa for what cops say was a phony charity rip-off that raked in tens of hundreds … all from individuals who believed she had most cancers.
The Eldridge Police Department rang up Madison Russo on a first-degree theft cost this week, which carries a most sentence of as much as 10 years in jail if convicted. She was arrested on Jan. 23, however has since bonded out … and is due again in court docket on March 2.
Cops allege Russo lied about 3 totally different diagnoses that she’d publicly been touting for at the least a 12 months … together with leukemia, pancreatic most cancers and a tumor “the size of a football.”
Throughout a lot of 2022, Russo had gone viral on TikTok whereas documenting her well being journey — which the authorities are actually saying was fully made-up … and which entered prison territory after she raised upwards of $37k on GoFundMe from 439 donors.
On social media, she was usually seen adorned in hospital-like paraphernalia … IV baggage, tubes that ran by her nostril and medical tape/gauze — suggesting she was present process remedy. All of that, nonetheless, was phony and simply an act — so alleges Eldridge PD.
Court docs reportedly lay out what police say they discovered at Russo’s condominium … along with a number of the medical provides listed above, they allege they found a wig, drugs for nausea in a relative’s title and extra. In different phrases, they’re claiming these had been all props.
In addition, Eldridge PD says they subpoenaed Russo’s medical data … and allege she’d by no means been identified with most cancers at any close by hospitals. The cops say she acquired on their radar after individuals wrote in saying a few of what they noticed on social media appeared fishy.
Orgs that Russo had allegedly affiliated with throughout this time — when she was presenting herself as poster little one for most cancers consciousness — are actually distancing themselves. She hasn’t addressed the matter publicly. A TikTok account attributed to her has been scrubbed.
Source: www.tmz.com
