Criminal charges are forthcoming against an Española woman accused of falsely claiming her 7-year-old daughter has leukemia in order to collect charitable donations, according to Los Alamos Police and State Police.
State Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson confirmed Monday that Los Alamos Police Department contacted State Police Sept. 12 about the fraud investigation into Tiffany Ortiz, 24.
Los Alamos Police Det. Shari Mills said the “woman under investigation” has been accepting donations, allowing community members to host events to raise money for her daughter’s illness and claiming she does not have medical insurance. Mills said her agency’s investigation has found the child not to have a disease.
An advertisement running Monday on a local access channel solicited tickets to a “Benefit Dance and Dinner” to be held Sept. 19 in Alcalde. Tickets are $15 per couple and $10 per person, and additional cash donations can be made at Century Bank, the ad states.
“All profits and donations are going to tests and treatment of Trysten Campos, who is 7 years old and was diagnosed with leukemia,” states text beneath pictures of a little girl.
A Sept. 13 enchilada dinner at Alcalde community center, costing $5 per person to benefit the same cause, was also advertised.
Mills said fraud and other charges, for donation solicitation in Los Alamos, are forthcoming when the investigation, which began Sept. 12, is concluded.
“If indeed it is true, for police and prosecutors to make a case against her, we would need to know person by person who she’s actually defrauding,” Assistant District Attorney A.J. Salazar said Monday.
Mills said the public should be cautious about donating money or holding fund raisers for “anyone making claims similar to those found in this case.”
Attempts to reach Ortiz by phone were unsuccessful.