Utah
Utah human rights advocate raised thousands with fake cancer diagnosis, charges say
Coco Berthmann describes how she was a sufferer of human trafficking throughout a panel dialogue on the Human Trafficking Coverage and Training Summit in Logan on April 17, 2021. She was charged Tuesday with communications fraud. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret Information)
Estimated learn time: 2-3 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah girl and advocate for human rights and preventing human trafficking was charged Tuesday with faking a most cancers analysis and accumulating 1000’s of {dollars} in donations for medical bills.
Coco Berthmann, 28, of South Jordan, is charged in third District Courtroom with communications fraud, a second-degree felony.
The investigation started in February when police obtained a tip a couple of suspicious GoFundMe marketing campaign. The web page acknowledged that Berthmann “was just lately identified with stage 3 mantle cell lymphoma most cancers” and the purpose was to boost $100,000 for medical bills, in line with charging paperwork.
South Jordan police have been tipped off to the fundraising marketing campaign by one among Berthmann’s former roommates who stated that whereas she lived together with her, “she claimed to have quite a few well being points that miraculously have been cured,” the costs state.
When Berthmann was arrested in February, a police reserving affidavit famous that investigators have been advised that Berthmann “has been a routine liar all through the years, claiming Coco’s mom was sending folks to the USA to kill her, she had had a stage 4 most cancers which was miraculously cured, and she or he had been raped on many events.”
Berthmann claims her household trafficked her for the primary 15 years of her life till she ran away from residence and has shared her story in a number of public settings.
When police tried to speak to Berthmann about her most cancers analysis, she at first declined to fulfill in individual with a detective, the costs state. She additionally allegedly claimed she had initially been handled on the Huntsman Most cancers Institute and was now searching for different remedy with specialists in Alaska and Chicago.
However when Berthmann failed to offer police together with her medical data or documentation of her sickness and remedy, a search warrant was issued by investigators. Police discovered that Berthmann had by no means been a affected person on the Huntsman Most cancers Institute, in line with the charging paperwork. Investigators stated additionally they discovered that the physician who was allegedly treating her from Chicago didn’t follow within the area of most cancers analysis and the hospital in Alaska had no file of Berthmann.
On Feb. 18, police subpoenaed Berthmann’s GoFundMe data and located she had raised about $10,000 at that time. Detectives additionally discovered that Berthmann had been taking out cash from the account and inserting it into her personal private checking account for a couple of week, the costs allege.
“There isn’t a indication the donations have been being utilized in furtherance of different therapies or to offset medical bills associated to a most cancers analysis,” in line with the costs.
Berthmann is initially from Germany and has acknowledged she was the sufferer of human trafficking. She established the Coco Berthmann Scholarship Fund to assist struggle human trafficking and has been a speaker at anti-trafficking conferences.