A human rights advocate from Utah was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly faking cancer diagnosis and collecting thousands of dollars for medical expenses, according to reports.
28-year-old Coco Berthmann is currently being investigated for communications fraud.
Utah human rights advocate arrested for allegedly faking cancer, raising money for medical expenseshttps://t.co/CC1LygvlDi
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South Jordan Police began probing Bertmann after someone tipped them off that the activist was raising money on GoFundMe by lying about having Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer.
Her GoFundMe page, which has been removed, has raised more than $10,000. The page stated that she had “aggressive cancer” with a 30% chance of survival.
According to the affidavit obtained by reporters, Berthmann said she had the documentation to prove her cancer diagnosis after being confronted by investigators.
However, Berthmann never produced any documentation of her illness, and medical institutes in Alaska and Chicago disputed her claims that she was being treated in their facilities.
The affidavit accuses Berthmann of being “a habitual liar throughout the years, claiming Coco’s mother was sending people to the United States to kill her, she had had a stage 4 cancer which was miraculously cured, and she had been raped on many occasions.”
She is in custody at the Salt Lake City Jail and is not formally facing any charges.
Berthmann is a German national who has raised awareness about human trafficking and has claimed to have been a victim herself, but there have been allegations that Berthmann was never a victim of such unlawful act, as the police could not verify her claims of working with authorities.
Berthmann established her own scholarship fund to help fight human trafficking and has been a speaker at anti-trafficking conferences, such as the Human Trafficking Policy and Education Summit at the Malouf Foundation.
The Malouf Foundation said it has not worked with Berthmann for nearly a year.
“The Malouf Foundation has procedures to help ensure the advocacy and content we provide is accurate and responsible,” said the organization in a statement. “If the credibility of an individual or their accusation of sex trafficking is called into question, we immediately investigate and work to take deliberate and thoughtful action to address the situation.”
