Mother suspected of raising $11,000 on GoFundMe after falsely claiming her child had brain cancer
PHOENIX — Phoenix police say they arrested a woman on suspicion that she defrauded people into donating on false claims that her child had brain cancer.
Phoenix Children’s Hospital reported that the woman and her 25-year-old husband were bringing their 1-year-old child for unnecessary medical procedures and claimed their child had brain cancer.
Court documents state the hospital alerted authorities on Oct. 5, and told police that Monique Coria had started a GoFundMe account and posted pictures and videos of their child in the emergency room in which she lied about her having brain cancer and needing money for treatment.
The hospital estimated the couple had raised $13,000 on GoFundMe and were collecting donations on other platforms including Cash App, Venmo and Linktree. Phoenix police detectives and officers with the Department of Child Safety confronted Coria on Oct. 13 at her home about the allegations.
Documents say Coria told the officers that her child took medication for seizures but did not have brain cancer or brain-related injuries and that a friend had set up the GoFundMe for her. Coria later admitted to lying about her child having brain cancer in TikTok videos she had posted and that she had done so because she was “in a bad place.”
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Coria said they had raised around $11,000 and spend $4,000 on rent and gas but had the rest of the money in a bank account. Documents say Coria admitted that she and her husband knew their child didn’t have brain cancer and that lying about the condition to garner donations was fraudulent.
Coria called detectives later that day and told them she had withdrawn the remaining money and gave it to her godmother for safekeeping.
Phoenix Children’s Hospital told Phoenix police that it had saved copies of the TikTok videos and took screenshots of various accounts. The hospital also provided copies of the child’s medical records which showed no history of brain cancer, documents state.
Police arrested Coria and her husband on Oct. 17 and questioned them further about the GoFundMe account. The husband, who is not named in the court documents, told detectives that his wife had created the account with his identification and believed their child had brain cancer based on what his wife had told him but noted he hadn’t seen medical paperwork corroborating her claim.
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He said he himself never asked for the money, but that the two spent the donation money to buy a car along with paying for rent, clothes, food, toys, TV and medication.
Documents say Coria admitted that her husband didn’t know their child didn’t have brain cancer and that she had set up the GoFundMe in January to defraud people. She repeated that the GoFundMe raised about $11,000 in donations and she had received an unknown amount of money from donations on other payment apps, documents state.
Coria told detectives she bought luxury items, such as a Gucci wallet and a Dyson Airwrap hair styler, because the donation money had covered their other expenses and had since spent the remaining donation money on other things while admitting that it was wrong and she shouldn’t have done it, documents say.
Documents show police booked Coria into jail on one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices, a Class 2 felony.
It was not immediately clear whether her husband was charged as well or who had custody of the child.
Follow Perry Vandell on Twitter: @PerryVandell.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mother suspected of raising money on GoFundMe for child's false cancer
