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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah woman and advocate for human rights and fighting human trafficking was charged Tuesday with faking a cancer diagnosis and collecting thousands of dollars in donations for medical expenses.
Coco Berthmann, 28, of South Jordan, is charged in 3rd District Court with communications fraud, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began in February when police received a tip about a suspicious GoFundMe campaign. The page stated that Berthmann "was recently diagnosed with stage 3 mantle cell lymphoma cancer" and the goal was to raise $100,000 for medical expenses, according to charging documents.
South Jordan police were tipped off to the fundraising campaign by one of Berthmann's former roommates who said that while she lived with her, "she claimed to have numerous health issues that miraculously were cured," the charges state.
When Berthmann was arrested in February, a police booking affidavit noted that investigators were told that Berthmann "has been 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."
Berthmann claims her family trafficked her for the first 15 years of her life until she ran away from home and has shared her story in multiple public settings.
When police attempted to talk to Berthmann about her cancer diagnosis, she at first declined to meet in person with a detective, the charges state. She also allegedly claimed she had initially been treated at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and was now seeking alternative treatment with specialists in Alaska and Chicago.
But when Berthmann failed to provide police with her medical records or documentation of her illness and treatment, a search warrant was issued by investigators. Police learned that Berthmann had never been a patient at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, according to the charging documents. Investigators said they also learned that the doctor who was allegedly treating her from Chicago did not practice in the field of cancer research and the hospital in Alaska had no record of Berthmann.
On Feb. 18, police subpoenaed Berthmann's GoFundMe records and found she had raised about $10,000 at that point. Detectives also learned that Berthmann had been taking out money from the account and placing it into her own personal bank account for about a week, the charges allege.
"There is no indication the donations were being used in furtherance of alternative treatments or to offset medical expenses related to a cancer diagnosis," according to the charges.
Berthmann is originally from Germany and has stated she was the victim of human trafficking. She established the Coco Berthmann Scholarship Fund to help fight human trafficking and has been a speaker at anti-trafficking conferences.
