Arraignment on Indictment in AM in Central Islip, News conference in Hauppauge Wednesday April 10
Update as of 11:17 AM: NEW TIME –12 NOON (The news conference will be held at NOON)
(Long Island, NY) Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota has announced the indictment of Brittany Ozarowski, a 21 year old woman, formerly of Selden, who was arrested April 1 on fraud and other charges for falsely claiming she has cancer to defraud donors and collect money to support her drug habit.
 Brittany Ozarowski, a 21 year old woman, formerly of Selden, who was arrested April 1 on fraud and other charges. |
“This was a despicable scam,” District Attorney Spota said. “There was no cancer, no chemotherapy, no radiation, and no medical bills. There was just heroin.”
Over the course of at least the past thirteen months, Ozarowski told prospective donors, from shoppers leaving the supermarket to business owners, that she was in desperate need of cash to pay her medical bills for treatment for bone and brain cancer, stomach cancer, thyroid cancer, and ovarian cancer. “She convinced store owners in this county and in Nassau to allow her to place donor jars in their place of business, and her arrogance was such that she established a PayPal account and her own website with the banner “Brittany Ozarowski – Help Save My Life”, said DA Spota.
“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.”
Ozarowski will be arraigned on the sealed indictment before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho on Wednesday April 10, on the third floor of the First District Court building in Central Islip. She is currently incarcerated in the county jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail. Justice Camacho will call the court calendar at 9:30 am.
A news conference will be held at 1:00 PM in DA Spota’s Hauppauge office.
Among the exhibits:
- The donor jar Ozarowski was using when she was arrested by Suffolk County police while soliciting shoppers in front of a supermarket
- T-shirts purchased by a store owner who held a fundraiser for the defendant
- over $600 in gift certificates donated by the owners of pizza parlors, nail spas, hair salons and other small businesses for fundraisers
- flyers distributed by the defendant claiming she had ovarian cancer, stomach cancer, bone cancer and brain cancer, daily medical expenses of $33,000, and “few options left”.
NEWS CONFERENCE, Wednesday, April 10, 2013
1:00 PM in the District Attorney’s office, Building 77, North County Complex, Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge NY.
SCDA Communications: 631-853-4118, Robert.Clifford@suffolkcountyny.gov
A criminal charge is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
