Long Island Drug Addict Swindles Money for "Cancer Treatment"

Addiction is ugly.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Drug addiction really pushes people to their limit of their morals. Yesterday, it was revealed that 21-year-old Brittany Ozarowski hustled strangers and her family for six figures, claiming that she needed money to treat bone and brain cancer. Ozarowski, who used the money to fund her heroin addiction, was arrested on Monday and charged with grand larceny. 

“This defendant perpetrated an absolutely despicable scam,” Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spotatold the New York Post. “There was no cancer, no chemotherapy, no radiation, and no medical bills. There was just heroin.”

Ozarowski's father gave her $25,000 from his retirement savings and her grandmother sold her home to offer $100,000 for chemotherapy that never happened. She even found a man who lost his son to cancer in 2007 and bled him for money. Walter Warren agreed to help Ozarowski after meeting her and organized fundraisers for her support. All of this kindness was triggered by lies.

The addict played the role almost perfectly, strategically leaving donation jars featuring an image of her in a wheelchair at 25 businesses and creating a website with the same picture. However, Ozarowski created suspicion when she refused to accept rides to doctors and people started to wonder why she had a full head of hair despite undergoing chemotherapy. 

Donors called the police, who monitored Ozarowski for months before arresting her this week as she passed out fliers in front of her apartment. Who's going to help her now?

[via NY Post]

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