Prosecutors file petition to forfeit more than $33,000 seized from Bettendorf woman charged in cancer scam

BETTENDORF, Iowa (KWQC) - Scott County prosecutors have filed a petition to forfeit more than $33,000 seized from a Bettendorf woman who police say received thousands of dollars in donations for a false cancer claim.

On Wednesday, Assistant Scott County Attorney Robert Cusack filed the petition in Scott County District Court. According to the petition, Eldridge police seized $33,230.76 from accounts belonging to Madison Russo, 19, on Monday.

Cusack wrote in the petition that the reason for the forfeiture action include:

• The property was illegally possessed.
• The Property that was acquired as, or from, the proceeds of a criminal offense or series of offenses.
• The property that was used or intended to be used to facilitate the commission of a criminal offense or to avoid detection or apprehension of a person committing a criminal offense.

Russo is charged with first-degree theft, a Class C felony. She will be arraigned March 2.

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