At least she didn't have cancer.....Just heroin.

[LSN80]

But if anyone deserved it, perhaps it's Brittany Ozarowski. As much as I hate wishing poor health on anyone, it's hard not to with regards to this 21 year old.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/cancer-fake-heroin-scam-143010101.html

Long Island district attorney Thomas Spota says it all:

“This defendant perpetrated a despicable scam. ... There was no cancer, no chemotherapy or radiation. All there was was heroin and more heroin."

Not all drug users are stupid, I suppose. I have to give Ozarowski credit for one thing; she perpetrated her scam for over a year, and got away with it. She even duped her own father and grandmother, who sold their home and gave her over $100,000 dollars for her "cancer treatment." Ozarowski claimed to have ovarian, stomach, bone and brain cancer, claiming that her treatment cost $33,000 a day. She placed jars in Supermarkets with her picture on it, left flyers at businesses, and created her own website and created a Paypal account where donations could be given. Before her website was taken down, Ozarowski wrote the following:

“In September of 2011, I was diagnosed with stage two ovarian cancer as well as stomach cancer," Ozarowski wrote on her website. "I was cancer free until they had found a tumor on my left hip in February 2012. That is when I found out that I have bone cancer. The cancer has spread to my spine as well as my brain.”

Ozarowski also claimed that she had recently found out that her brain tumor was completely inoperable, and would die if her treatments didn't continue.

"My family had already liquidated all assets."

Including, as I mentioned above, her grandmother selling her house and giving her over $100,000 for her "treatments."

"I have tried to receive financial help from many different charities, catholic charities, cancer organizations, and organizations of all types for that matter. It is very hard to receive financial help."I have very few options left and I am still in desperate need of treatments."

At least 25 different businesses in the Long Island area threw fundraisers for her over the course of the past year after she posted this on her website in February of 2012. Does nobody do cursory background checks anymore on the legitimacy of such things? I can't fault them for their compassion, but there's undoubtably some stupidity involved here. Her last post said this:

No donation is too big nor too small, anything at all would help greatly. If there is anyway you can help to donate anything or help with fundraising it would be greatly appreciated very much by both my family and I. Thank you very much for your generosity. You can easily donate by clicking on the PayPal “Donate” button below. All major credit cards are accepted. PayPal does not require you to have an account with them to donate.

How badly does one's addiction have to be in order for them to perpetrate such a scam? I'll admit, Im no expert, but I imagine that the $100,000 she got from her family would be enough to buy enough heroin to last for a long time. Yet the girl not only continued her scam, she expanded on it by placing cans in supermarkets, having fundraisers thrown for her, and opening a PayPal account.

For me, it also begs the obvious question: Where is her family in all of this? Yes, her father and grandmother sold all they had to give her money, but how were they duped? My grandmother died of cancer, a close friend of mine had it, as did my closest family member. I visited my grandmother in the hospital as much as was humanly possible, and went to every treatment I could both with my friend and with my family member. Was her family so removed from her life that they simply gave her money for over a year, but remained otherwise uninvolved? It's simply baffling to me.

As for Ozaranski, she was outed when a man whom she asked for money asked her the name of her doctor, and she refused to answer. The man then called the district attorney's office, an investigation ensued, and Ozaranski was arrested on April 1st. She is being arraigned today on 24 charges of grand larceny, forgery and fraud. The DA's statement concluded with:

"The truth is she is a 21-year-old drug addict with four open narcotics cases and we have strong evidence she forged doctors’ notes to avoid court appearances”.

I imagine the addiction would have to be extremely strong for the young woman to go to such lengths to get money to fuel her habit. She obviously needs help, but she's exhausted any good will, and jail seems far more appropriate then rehab. I do know that depending on the usage, one can die from heroin withdrawal, so perhaps rehab is more necessary.


Thoughts on this story?

 

[Nikeo]

Don't get me wrong, her actions are absolutely vile. However, I think many people don't have a great understanding of a heroin addiction and how that affects one's decision making skills. It's all encompassing. Your next score IS your life, you'll do anything to ensure you get it.

Ignoring the actual addiction, look up the withdrawal symptoms. I don't condone crimes commited to fund addictions (least of all something this extravagant) but, bearing the alternative in mind, I understand why they occur.

You only need to walk down O'Connel street, one of the main streets in Dublin, to see the effects it's had on my country. I dunno if we've got more addicts per 100 but I come from a country that has been badly blighted by heroin, I see what it's done to people on a daily basis.

I dunno about the vast quantity of money she was scamming out of people but that isn't someone who is stealing just to fund their habbit. Perhaps she was dealing and owed out a LOT of money? It's an interesting story in the sense that I'd like to know where all the money went but it certainly was not all spent on the drug for personal use.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I imagine the addiction would have to be extremely strong for the young woman to go to such lengths to get money to fuel her habit.

Not necessarily. Maybe she's just a person who has spent her life taking .....and taking......and taking.

Never giving....always taking.

There are plenty of folks like that out there. Most might not have the nerve or smarts to perpetrate a scam like this, but they've lived off others their entire lives and have absolutely no problem doing it.

Some people are givers, others are takers.....and hopefully, most of us are a combination of the two. It's okay to take, as long as you also give. Not just money; I'm talking about helping others in any form you can think of.

This woman wasn't stupid, nor was she afraid of the consequences of being found out. Yes, if she has an overpowering addiction, she probably never considered the penalties she might face if discovered, but even junkies are often capable of knowing right from wrong, even if they choose to ignore it.

The problem is that scams like this really blow the idea of charity out of the building, don't they? Now, when someone is appealing for help, you might want to look twice before throwing money at them. No, I'm not necessarily talking about requesting X-rays and MRI's from the person claiming to be afflicted, but I'd feel better if the person's request for help be somehow associated with a known charity, or a doctor, or a church/synagogue....or something to assure me that the money I give will be used for the purpose intended.