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, but Telleen would not budge. He said it is important for people to know she is a felon, that people should know that she was a part of a “criminal scheme,” and that she must face the “serious consequences” of her crime.
“Through this scheme, you deceived your friends, your family, your community, other cancer victims, charities, and strangers who were motivated by your supposedly tragic story to donate to help support you,” the judge said, according to CBS News.
Some people who donated said in court they felt betrayed by her and the prosecutors for giving her such a light plea deal.
“It was devastating to sit there and watch,” Rhonda Miles, an administrator at a cancer foundation in Nashville said, before pointing at the prosecutors and asking, “Why were you defending this girl when you were supposed to be prosecuting?”
Others took to social media, suggesting she should have received a harder sentence.
“So if she “refunds” all the money she stole, she is left with a $1,000 fine… got off pretty darned easy,” one person tweeted.
So if she “refunds” all the money she stole, she is left with a $1000 fine… got off pretty darned easy.
— greg scragg (@gregscragg) October 22, 2023
Russo said in court the lie was never about the money. She masqueraded in a fake wig, doctored up pictures and purchased medical equipment because she wanted to get her family back together.
“A lot of people have made speculation as to why I did this and how somebody who looked like they had everything together could have such a mess. I didn’t do this for money or greed. I didn’t do this for attention. I did this as an attempt to get my family back together,” she said.
The restitution has already been paid, and the crowdfunding platform refunded the deceived donors.
GoFundMe released a statement regarding Russo’s actions.
“GoFundMe has a zero-tolerance policy for misuse of our platform and cooperates with law enforcement investigations of those accused of wrongdoing,” the company said.
