The woman who feigned a prolonged fight with fatal cancer and raised money for herself may have Munchausen syndrome, which is a psychological ailment that involves the pretending of illness in order to win the nurturing of others, according to the prosecution. This is the reason why she was given the scornful nickname “Scamanda.”
The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that this discovery regarding Amanda C. Riley, who had pleaded guilty in a federal courthouse in California in 2022 to the charge of defrauding more than $100,000 from hundreds of donors, came to light as prosecutors successfully argued against an effort by her legal team to secure an early release from prison.
While Riley was serving the five-year term that had been handed down to her for the actions that were meticulously detailed in the Lionsgate Sound podcast Scamanda, the prosecution contended that she had continued to fabricate illnesses at the same time.
The counsel representing Riley has effectively argued that her ailments are genuine this time around; however, three doctors and a nurse who have treated her while she has been incarcerated have written in their notes that she appears to have a factitious condition, which is an alternative name for Munchausen. Actually, it was a fourth doctor that made the diagnosis for her.
Not only did these medical opinions persuade the federal judge Beth Labson Freeman to maintain Riley’s sentencing, but she also cited recurring and “serious questions about her credibility” as the reason for her decision. In addition, they provided convincing proof of a possible motivation for the manner in which she preyed on the generosity of other people, as Riley has admitted.
Over the course of seven years, beginning in 2012, Riley presented herself as a lady who was battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma and was on the verge of passing away from the disease. She wrote about her alleged struggle with the illness in a blog as well as on social media, through which she solicited financial support in order to pay for the treatments that she claimed to be receiving.
Additionally, the former principal of an elementary school in the Bay Area proceeded to shave her head in order to persuade her supporters that chemotherapy was the cause of her hair loss. Additionally, according to the prosecution, she allegedly uploaded pictures of herself while falsifying medical records. Additionally, she allegedly pursued a civil harassment case against the investigative journalist Nancy Moscatiello as she began to unravel Riley’s charade.
It was never diagnosed in Riley. She was subsequently charged with criminal offences by federal officials, who identified 349 individuals who had given her more than $105,000 for her services.
In order to be closer to the location where she eventually relocated with her two sons and her husband, who was not involved in the criminal case that was brought against her by the federal Internal Revenue Service, she has been imprisoned at a federal jail in Fort Worth, Texas, after entering a guilty plea to the charge of wire fraud.
During her first 18 months of incarceration, Riley made a dozen trips to the emergency room. These visits included claims that she was experiencing chest pains, that her heart was racing rapidly, and that she had a cut on her head. She received ambulance transports to the hospital on other occasions, and by the month of April, her legal counsel had submitted documents arguing that those trips warranted either a complete termination of her sentence or, at the very least, a reduction in its length by more than a year.
The counsel for Riley stated that their client would be better able to deal with a wide variety of health difficulties if they were released from detention. These health issues include asthma, sleep terrors, hypotension, and an irregular heartbeat, among others.
On the other hand, Assistant United States Attorney Michael Pitman argued that the medical personnel who examined Riley had found evidence that she had attempted to manipulate the findings of the tests in order to make it appear as though she was unwell. According to what Pitman wrote in court papers, medical personnel observed her “holding her breath during an oxygen saturation test,” attempting “to manipulate an infusion pump administering potassium to her,” and intentionally putting her body under stress in order to increase her pulse rate.
In her letter, Pitman stated, “Perhaps not surprisingly, however, the defendant’s medical records make clear that she does not actually suffer from any acute health problems at all.” She went on to mention that a number of medical specialists were of the opinion that Riley “exhibited symptoms of Munchausen syndrome.”
In the end, Freeman came to the conclusion that Riley’s alleged health issues did not justify providing him with an early release for a crime that carried a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison.
However, Freeman made it a point to clarify how the judge came to the conclusion that Riley, who was convicted of fraud and was 39 years old at the time, was continuing to “fake her ailments” due to the “chorus of scepticism from the medical professionals treating” Riley. In addition, she concluded that “the overwhelming reports of… feigning illness” suggested that it was highly probable that Riley would commit another offence if he was freed with an early release.
“The court is satisfied that [five years] of imprisonment is the fair and proper sentence at this time,” Freeman wrote. “[T]he court has reached this conclusion.”