Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Mom Fakes Terminal Cancer for YEARS, Scams OVER 100 GRAND

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Amanda Riley shares with the social world her battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system. Over a seven-year period, her physical battles including losing her hair, and endless hospital visits are the focus of repeated posts. Thousands of dollars in donations start coming in, and people in her community step up to help.  Then, journalist Nancy Moscatiello gets an anonymous tip. Riley is lying and the investigation is on. 'Scamanda' a new podcast by Lionsgate Sound, can be found at the link below. Follow the episodes as they detail what led to Riley’s unraveling.  Joining Nancy Grace Today: Lindsey Wilder - Former Church Member/Friend Caryn Stark - Psychologist- Trauma and Crime Expert; Twitter: @carnpsych  Jose Martinez - Former Detective (who worked the case) Nancy Moscatiello - Investigative Producer, Co-Executive Producer: 'Scamanda' Charlie Webster - Host of ‘Scamanda;' Award-winning Journalist and Broadcaster; Creative Director at Lionsgate Sound; Twitter @charliecw See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A beautiful young woman suffering, suffering horribly, suffering with cancer. We watch from her blog as she goes completely bald and becomes weaker and weaker and weaker, fighting the deadly disease. Or was she? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Who is Amanda? Listen. Amanda's blogs weren't just filled with words. There were hundreds of heart-wrenching and war-intimate pictures detailing her journey. From copious vials of blood taken for testing to step-by-step photos of a hair falling out. Amanda Riley, A-M-A-N-D-A-R-I-L-E-Y. I work on the campaign for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and I'm also a stage four refractory blood cancer patient. Amanda, then 27, had just given birth to

her first child. Amanda's blog posts are read by actor Kendall Horn. Before I was pregnant, they diagnosed me with lupus. The diagnosis stuck for quite a while. After Carter, our son, was born, my blood counts dropped so dramatically that it threw another flag. It's hard to imagine what it's like for Amanda, the joy of becoming a mother, rudely interrupted by some

heart-wrenching news. Her life will never be the same again. After a vat of tests, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Literally tens of thousands of people around the world were spillbound, drawn to Amanda's story seemingly like no other as she battles Hodgkin's. Listen. A brand new blog popped up on a website called Blogspot. The homepage heading was simple. My story, our journey. A post appeared.

What the heck is Hodgkins lymphoma? My goal with this blog is to not only keep friends and family in the loop, but serve as a resource to all those newly diagnosed. Doctors don't provide great detailed information, and the internet is not your friend when you're diagnosed with a disease. I have Hodgkin's lymphoma, and it's been quite the journey to figure it out. The author, Amanda C. Riley. So you're hearing more and more about her and about her horrible battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma. You're hearing the voice of Charlie Webster, who is joining us right now. But first, I want to go to a special guest joining me,

Karen Stark, a renowned psychologist out of Manhattan. You can find her at KarenStark.com. That's Karen with a C, but also Cancer Survivor. Karen, if you could just try, and I've never asked you this, to summarize your battle, what you went through battling cancer, the ups and the downs and the heartbreaks and the seemingly never ending battle that you have suffered and fought so valiantly. What was it like? Nancy, it's so hard to describe because I think about, you know, you just don't imagine it happening. And I think for everybody, the idea of cancer without having a cure really is the most frightening thing. And then you find out that this is happening to you and it just seems surreal.

You go through, you take drugs, whatever you need to do. And for me, personally, five years later, I discovered that the cancer had returned and it was worse. And then I needed to go through chemotherapy. And you're dealing with your mortality, you know, the fact that you love life, you don't want to be sick, you want to be healthy and have a good quality. And it is the most frightening, overwhelming situation to be in, at least it was in my life, as I battled this disease. As tens of thousands tune in to Amanda's blogs for every development, suddenly they go cold. Listen.

I was invited to attend the Look Good, Feel Better seminar by the American Cancer Society. It was so cool. I was among other women undergoing chemo. Best part, we got a huge goodie bag of makeup. Chanel, Avon, Bobby Brown, Clinique, MAC, Estee Lauder, scarves, hats, and two wigs. I got a natural brown wig, but I will also be a rockin' platinum blonde. Why? Because I can. And then, she stopped. After posting regular updates about her cancer journey, the blog goes dark. Six months go by with no posts, no pictures, nothing.

Not a word. Until, out of nowhere, a brand new post appears, alongside photos of Amanda and her family celebrating in party hats with some amazing news. Screw you, cancer. I win. 12 months of testing, 8 months of chemotherapy, and today is my day of bliss. We won.

But tragically, there was a relapse. Listen. Stephanie was extremely well-connect connected in the country music business she actually knew leanne rhymes a steel player who she contacted about getting amanda backstage to meet leanne now leanne rhymes has joined team amanda stephanie surprised me by taking both cory and i to the concert we got to meet her i was prettystruck, but tried to keep my cool. She was so nice and down to earth. Afterwards, we got to watch her perform with the symphony. It was beautiful and pure magic. I think my jaw was on the floor most of the night. After the concert, her wonderful

steel player escorted us to her dressing room where she so kindly signed guitars. But then out of the blue, there seems to be a bump in the road, a fly in the ointment, so to speak. Listen to our cut seven, Charlie Webster. Maybe a couple years into her blog, it was removed for a time. She kind of removed herself for a time. The blog would be up for a long time, and then she would shut it down. And then she would open up the blog again with a new post, and then she would shut it down like nobody could see it.

And what I had heard happened is that she was being sued for faking cancer. Lindsay Wilder, Amanda's friend from church. But it was a whole mix-up because there was someone else named Amanda Riley who died from cancer. Okay, in my world, there is no coincidence. But could it possibly be that there are two beautiful young women named Amanda Riley that are both battling deadly cancer?

That's quite a coincidence. You know, I mentioned that you were hearing the voice of Charlie Webster, but I didn't mention that Charlie is the host of Scamanda. Scam. Anda. Scamanda. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Charlie Webster, award-winning journalist and broadcaster at Lionsgate. You can find Charlie at charliewebster.com is with us. Also, special guest Nancy Moscatello, investigative producer, co-EP of Scamanda. Jose Martinez, former detective who worked this case. That should give you a big tip off about Amanda Riley.

And last but certainly not least, Lindsay Wilder, former church member who donated so much plasma to save Amanda's life, the plasma bank cut her off for safety reasons. You know, you hear a last call like at a bar. That's what they did to Lindsay. Last call, woman. No more donating for Amanda Riley. You've maxed out. She donated so much of her own plasma. The plasma bank cut her off. First of all, to Charlie Webster. Scamanda. Amazing. Start at the beginning. Everybody jump in when you feel like it. This is not high tea

at Windsor Castle with the new King Charles and consort Queen Camilla. Let it go. Charlie Webster, oh my stars. First of all, I can't wait to hear how you came up with the idea of Scamanda. But just tell me Amanda Riley's story. How much does she scam? I understand about $105,000. Yeah, Nancy, I love the way you did that. And thank you for kind of doing the scam. It's amazing. Honestly, it took us so much to go back and forth on that title, whether we felt it was right. Nancy and I had so many conversations about that um she did scam

over a hundred thousand dollars worth of people's money but it was small increments of money and this was only what was found i'm giving some clues away here but i'm sure detective martinez will this is only to do with what was sent over the wires. So the money that people gave in cash. Oh, my stars, wait a minute. I'm drinking from the fire hydrant, Charlie Webster. You've just given me so much information at once. I'm trying to take it in.

So let me understand. So you're saying, you said it was over $100,000, but it was in small increments. Let me tell you something. $25 to one person is like $250,000 to another person. Exactly. You know, that's straight out of the Bible. Remember all of the rich members of the temple were giving huge amounts of money, and the widow came forward with the mite, and she was the one that was blessed, not them. So, you know, when you say it's a small donation, $ $105,513 is what we know because it was wire, like credit cards and PayPal, Venmo.

So there's probably, the Lord only knows how much more out there that she scammed. First of all, did she have Hodgkin's? No. And something I want to point out is you make such an amazing point, Nancy, because there was so many people, as you mentioned about Lindsay, that gave their own selves, their own emotions, their own energy, their time, services, like people donated food and so she could eat and her family could eat. And it wasn't just about the money. But no, she didn't.

Okay, now wait a minute. You just really struck a chord. Hold on, Charlie Webster. And Nancy Moscatello and Jose Martinez, Karen Stark, of course, don't be shy. But Lindsay Wilder is joining us

who donated so much plasma to this woman, they cut her off at the plasma bank. Lindsay Wilder is joining us who donated so much plasma to this woman. They cut her off at the plasma bank. I call myself a casserole Christian the salad, the flowers, the blah, blah, and you take it to them and you leave it with them. You don't even make them come to the door. You take it and you leave. That's what I call being a casserole Christian. And I've stood in that kitchen many a time making something for, I didn't know what else to do. I don't think that's going to get me into heaven, but I'm going to keep trying. Here you were giving your plasma to this woman. You have to tell me the whole thing. Absolutely. So I knew that I didn't have much to give financially.

I knew one thing I had was a high plasma and platelet count. So I devoted myself every week going to the Red Cross. Along with me, I brought a magnet given to me by Amanda that said Team Amanda on it. Every single time I went to donate, I think I did 54 that year. I held the magnet and I told everybody in the room about my friend Amanda C. Riley dying from cancer. Okay, I'm just letting that soak in. You know, it's like a fine wine. I've uncorked it. I poured it into a glass and now I'm just like, well, it's wafting in the air. How did you meet this woman? Oh, my gosh. So I was very, very close with Amanda's best friend. Her best friend brought me to the church where I met Amanda. And when I met her, she had already been suffering from cancer, allegedly.

She had a beanie on and underneath she had very, very short hair. I remember this moment very well now and oh gosh i remember her being bubbly i remember thinking how strong she was okay she was strong because she's perfectly healthy right right she was so in lindsey wasn't she she was so influential though in the church nancy she was like a celebrity in the local church. What church was this? This was family community church in San Jose, South San Jose. It was a very large church. Oh, these poor people. Oh, yeah. That have unwittingly been part of this scam. So you meet her, you're impressed with her, and you decide to start giving your own plasma. You know, I did what I could. I really did. Being really close with her best friend means that I felt like I had a little bit more information than anyone else.

And at this time, her best friend and I, every single Tuesday, that's when the church service was that we attended together, we would sit in her car and we would pray for Amanda. We would pray that she would see her children graduate from high school, that she would make it through all kinds of things. Tears all the time, just doing whatever we could to do something. What could we do but pray for her recovery and her children, her poor children. And literally give your blood sweat and tears, your plasma sweat and tears. Okay, I'm just thinking about that. And to me, that's a real affront, because I believe that prayer changes things. And there are so many people, children, other people suffering in the world that need not only our prayers, but our act, our action doing something. And you did all of that, Lindsay Wilder.

Did you hear Nancy Moscatello joining me, producer and co-EP of Scamanda? Guys, we are talking to the executive, co-executive producer of Scamanda. It is an eight-episode limited podcast series. Scamanda available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, everywhere as it should be. And I do not want to dissuade anyone from helping another person less fortunate than we are. But this woman needs to go to jail badly. I don't know that she can ever pay back restitution for what she did. But it's going to make people in the future think twice before they try to help another person who's battling a disease. Nancy

Moscatello is joining us. Nancy, how did you get involved with this? Yeah, I got involved. I've been working in true crime and investigative pieces for over 25 years. And at this point in my career, I was looking for different stories and cases for a project I was working on and had reached out to different groups and organizations just saying, hey hey here's who I am here's here's what I do um you know anyone has any leads or people they want me to look into just you know let me know here here's my information and and yeah that's not uncommon you know when you're looking for stories and stuff and I I got an anonymous anonymous email and they said, you know, there's a woman. This is who she is. Here's some links to her blog. And, you know, this person was adamant.

This person does not have cancer. I think what they're doing is appalling. And can you help? Can you do anything? So somebody knew it was a scam, and they tipped you off? Yes. Well, they felt it was. I, they thought it did, right? Yeah, I think they did.

Yeah, they thought. I think they felt that Amanda was manipulating people. And you know what's funny, Nancy? When Nancy Moscatello first spoke to me, I was not quite convinced. I actually questioned Nancy a few times. And I sat there reading these blogs and looking at these photos of somebody in hospital having chemo and years worth of blogs. And I said to Nancy, are you sure? I was another person that questioned Nancy in her, I don't know, in her kind of plight to try and bring this to justice. So you actually thought, hey, this woman really does have cancer.

Initially. Okay, you got to tell me about the pictures. Tell me about the pictures, Nancy Moscatello, the pictures of this woman that were so convincing. What are they? So when I first got tipped, you have to know that Amanda, she already had three years worth of blogs up. So she started blogging in 2012 and I was tipped to it in 2015. So there was three years of just heart-wrenching words, photos, proof that she was dying and that she had Hodgkin's lymphoma.

You know, there was everything from multiple doctors, pictures of facilities, traveling back and forth to New York, emergency room pictures, bald heads, crying, tears, family gatherings, like everything you would expect. I myself lost my sister to cancer. She had two young children at the time. So it was very relatable to me. And what I was looking at looked like what I had been through with my own family. So, you know, my source was adamant. I kept going back and forth with them. We talked quite a bit and I knew where they were coming from and there was some key things that, you know, I could keep in the back of my mind, like, okay, I see all this, but the facts that I'm being told are very, very solid. So how is this possible that she's dying, right? Or that she has cancer. So it was a lot of back and forth. And then three years worth of

blogs gave me a lot to start working with and fact checking. And I think like, you know, many producers do. It's arduous, it's tedious, but you do it. And I broke down those first three years speaking to experts I knew from years and years of producing and saying, hey, what do you think of this? How would I fact check this? What would I do with this? Wow. You just brought up something really interesting I hadn't thought of.

I mean, I know how to try a murder case or how to investigate a case and prove it to a jury. But if somebody says, I have Hodgkin's. Yeah. And then I'm told, no, they don't. How do you start disproving that? And talk about the long game talk about the end goal i mean already when you come into it she's been blogging and stealing from people for three

years and dragging her family along with her and i've got to wonder did her family know the truth guys i want you to take a listen to our cut eight from scamanda listen and there was another amanda riley a 17 year old girl who lost her life to cancer in 2010 two years before our amanda riley first started her blog to add to the confusion a foundation was started in the name of the deceased amanda riley and so the idea, oh, it was a mix-up. Then she was back in the game. Terminal miracle. The cancer relapsed into my lung.

The doctors were unsure if it was a whole new cancer in and of itself due to the ridiculously high amounts of chemo. Terminal miracle. Terminal miracle. Wow, that is quite a coincidence, isn't it, Jose Martinez? A high-profile detective who worked the case.

Jose, what was your experience in this? How did you get pulled into it? Well, I had received a number of calls from Nancy who introduced me to the idea of the case and what she had been looking into. And like you, I sat there and thought about how would I prove that somebody doesn't have an illness? And so Nancy was very persistent. At the time, I was working a lot of cases reading into them and just like

Nancy had been reading into them and so then I sat back after, gosh, I'm not sure how many months had passed as Nancy was calling me to put my attention on this. But I had been reading the blogs that she sent me. And I looked at the photos of Ms. Riley. And then I went to the church. Sat in the church. I thought, wow, this is on a large scale. I'd never been to the church. Sat in the church and I thought, wow, this is on a large scale. I'd never been to that church and it was just a really huge community. Okay, now, wait, wait, wait.

I want to hear about that. Yeah. So Nancy calls you, you start reading all the blogs. Three years worth of blogs. I mean, talk about the long game again. Trying to get money, getting money. And there's no telling how much she got. We only know of 105

through wire like, you know, PayPal or Venmo or credit card. Was somebody jumping in just then? What I was going to say is when I contacted Jose, I know it's unusual

for, you know, a producer television, you you know to turn to the police and and that just I guess what I'm trying to explain is I was so appalled and it was so out of hand in my opinion that I was like screw the story she needs to stop like somebody needs to stop her and I kind of put aside my ultimate goal at the time because I just thought what is what she's doing to this community is so unreal that I just couldn't fathom letting her continue so I thought you know hey I you know local police let me start there they'll take you know this will be easy you know they'll get a hold of her and she'll stop and so you know making that initial contact with Jose is out of character for you know a producer a television producer you know working a story working a case and so, but I just thought it was that important.

And I am incredibly thankful that he heard me. So, Jose, I want to go back to you going to that church, the family community church there, and I believe you said San Jose. Yes. And that is when it hit you to what a large scale the scam is. And I'm telling you guys, if we know of 105,000 she took from people, plus blood, plus plasma, plus food, plus objects, plus land rhymes and this and that and that and this. I mean, it's a huge scam. Yeah.

This woman is a one-woman wrecking crew. So, Jose, when did it hit you, this is a lot bigger than what we originally thought? Yeah, so the church size definitely had an effect as to the scale of what it was going to be because initially I knew that as soon as I opened the door to it, I was not going to be in the favor of anybody who was supporting Ms. Riley. Hey, you were right. Your instincts were right because listen to this. We now know that this person, Amanda Riley, had convinced her family member she had cancer and went so far as to actually sue someone that questioned her diagnosis.

Yeah. She sued somebody for saying, you don't have cancer. You're stealing from people in the name of being a cancer victim, which you are not. She sued them, Jose. Oh, yeah. And the thing is, is that, you know, when I really sat back and looked at it and I thought, what would be the perfect crime

having an illness? You know, what makes it a perfect crime almost? And the fact that the HIPAA laws that protect patient confidentiality is a protection. For her, it became the core of what was to be because it protected her from anyone questioning her. Who's going to go to her doctor and which doctor is going to say,

you know, give personal information about somebody's illness to anybody, especially an investigator or anybody outside of that. Nobody is going to do that. And that's what I found. You know, nobody wants to talk. Nobody wants to be in violation of that particular law. I mean, there's also the moral problem. There's a moral problem, Lindsay Wilder.er not only is there hipaa to protect patient confidentiality and patient information who wants to go up to a cancer patient and give them a hard time we want to comfort them and help them i mean lindsey wilder how did you find out you were scammed out of your own plasma oh my goodness i don't even know where to start but i will tell

you right away i still believed her for a period of time i was under the impression i saw this with my own eyes i saw her pass out i saw her pee her pants okay can i get back to the as you say pee her pants part okay what yeah i mean karen i hope you are writing all this down if you can write that quickly whoa whoa so she had a fake fainting spell and fake peed her pants well she did pee her pants and she did faint and that's why she was so convincing that's how she managed to do something like this is to use something that you would never imagine anybody using to be able to manipulate someone. Cause cancer, like Karen said earlier,

it's touched so many of our lives, but she did pee her pants and she did faint and she did do all these things. Ambulances came for her Nancy. So that's what was so convincing. It wasn't like she faked it. Like she did go to hospital. She did sit there looking like she faked it. Like she did go to hospital. She did sit there looking like she had chemo. She did go to all these different trials and hospitals and take pictures.

But how did she pull that off? I don't get it. First of all, my question is, how does she, you go in a hospital and you convince them to hook you up to monitors and stuff? I mean, I don't know how you would do that. I mean, when I try to write a check at the grocery store, I get the third degree. So how do you walk into a hospital and convince them to just hook you up and take all these pictures? That's a question. But wait, Lindsay Wilder, I want to hear about the peeing the pants part. Oh, yeah, I remember it so well. I was actually sitting next to her. So she started feeling very hot, she said, and she said, I need to go get a drink of water. She got up from next to us. She walked to the back of the church and she hit the floor. At that point is when she peed her pants. And I will tell you, every single person in the congregation, and I have to tell you, there were hundreds started praying for her in that moment. Whatever sermon was happening stopped entirely. The pastor got off the stage and circled around her praying over her.

And that, I kid you not, is the first time in my life I prayed. And let me give you a perspective. This is the other Nancy. Because as someone watching and reading the blog in real time as this is unfolding, because by now I'm I'm hooked and I'm following peeing her pants and blogging about it was her go to. So it happened in church. It happened where she worked. It happened in the park with her kids for some reason she fainted and peed her pants and blogged about it um several times over and each time hot needed water if you ask me i'm convinced that was water and not pay but that's maybe that's what i so there's a game with amanda

and unless you are looking at it through completely different lenses, that's how Amanda did it. So that's, and so, you know, she was dedicated and she was good at it. How do you go in a hospital, Jose Martinez? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking to Charlie Webster, host of Scamanda, to Nancy Moscatella, the investigative producer, co-EP of Scamanda, Jose Martinez, the detective who worked this case, probably still having nightmares about it. Lindsay Wilder, who got cut off at the plasma bank for donating so much plaza to save this woman's life. Karen Stark, renowned psychologist out of Manhattan and cancer survivor. I mean, just the thought of this woman

using cancer survivors, cancer warriors like Karen Stark, using my friend Karen Stark to get money. And this 100 grand, that's the tip of the iceberg. You've got Lindsay Wilder laid out on a gurney giving plasma to this woman. So Lindsay, I'm just trying to take in how she faked it all. But what I don't get Jose Martinez is how do you go to a hospital and convince them to hook you up so you can take pictures for your blog?

Well, if you look at the pictures, you have to ask yourself, what am I really looking at? So when you look at the pictures, like there's pictures of her in a hallway or with the beanie cap on and then the little oxygen tube that goes into your nose and around your ears. But that's, but there's nothing in the hallway. It's empty. Um, so I'm not really seeing anything that convinces me that she's really hooked up

to something. It's the appearance of it. And that's what she's selling in those pictures is the appearance, the shaved head, the, all the things that we relate to illness, well, especially this illness. She's doing the checkboxes and people are believing just what they see. And then they're believing this based on the superficial picture, but not really knowing. And the whole question that I kept getting from all the hospitals that I called was why would somebody fake cancer?

And so that on top of just the images, nobody's questioning it. So that is, you know, that's, again, that's part of the whole scam. Wow. I'm just trying to take the whole thing in, guys. Take a listen to our cut 11 from our friends at CrimeOnline. Wow. I'm just trying to take the whole thing in, guys. Take a listen. Now we're cut 11 from our friends at CrimeOnline.com. A former teacher and principal who courageously fought her battle with cancer using her blog and social media to detail all of her ups and downs, she shared how expensive the cancer battle could be and sought donations from anyone who could help. She claimed to have support from major celebrities like Leanne Rimes.

Well, now it seems it was all a scam. Amanda C. Reilly never had cancer. Never. She didn't use the money to pay for cancer treatment, but she did use it to help pay living expenses. Federal prosecutors and the IRS claim Reilly received 447 online donations totaling over $60,000 through her support Amanda page alone. Thousands more was raised by volunteers who organized fundraisers like Chili Cook-Off Contest, Facebook Challenge, and auctioning off on eBay autographed guitars by Leanne Rimes and Alan Jackson. Okay, whoa, wait a minute.

Whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Charlie Webster, she got Leanne Rimes to donate guitars. Alan Jackson, chili cook-offs. This is a lot. This is a lot bigger than $100,000. Yeah, it's so much bigger. And like you said, it's people's prayers. This is, what's so fascinating about this this podcast Scamander is and the whole point we we

used her I used her blogs throughout and got an actress to read them is is you almost become convinced when you're listening to it even though she knows you know she's lying and it was so there's so many twists and turns I meanancy who originally was through an anonymous source was told about amanda a long time ago years years nancy's been trying to pursue her in a in a personal way it did become personal because amanda tried to get a subpoena against nancy and actually strung it out for months and months tried to to discredit Nancy, took her to court. She used her own, she basically also used to break a family up by using her cancer.

So she actually took, oh, it's so awful, her husband's daughter off her mother by using her cancer to manipulate people. Nancy, I was even in touch with Amanda fairly recently, and she thought that I was hired by Nancy to try and get at her, and she's still not taken accountability and responsibility. But the thing about her is she's so nice it's kind of weird she's so cute she's like so polite and so lovely and so empathetic and you you

kind of get drawn in and we have this perception that criminals are these kind of big bad monsters and ah scary people but she was so kind and lovely and that's how she infiltrated and abused so many people and it's that kind of violation of not just the money or the casseroles as you said or the chili cook-offs the time the energy but it's that violation of that sense of self and that abuse of trust. But honestly, it's unbelievably convincing. I'm trying to figure out who can tell me about her family. I mean, she has children who are going to grow up to say, yeah, my mom faked cancer and raked in like what, one, two, three hundred thousand dollars. I mean, we only know about

the credit card or the electronic donations we don't know about the hundreds of thousands of dollars and man hours put into trying to help her charlie and nancy did her family believe her and what were you saying about taking a daughter away and breaking up the family yeah if i could speak to that so yeah go ahead one of the first things i did when you know learning about amanda and the situation during that tip um i pulled i looked for court cases i looked for anything i could to see who is amanda riley what is she about um and one of the there was two court, a bankruptcy court case for her and her husband, Corey Riley, and then a custody case with Corey Riley and one of his ex-wife to Alita Bernal Riley and just, hey, here's who I am. Very vague, very like, I see court papers.

I'm kind of pre-interviewing. I'm looking at Amanda. And at that point, Amanda's support system wanted her on the Ellen show and this show. And please, somebody help her. Help this mom who's dying. So there was a lot of attention for her to get more attention. Right. So when I spoke with this, this ex-wife, she said, well, I have nothing nice to say about those Amanda Riley and Corey Riley.

But, you know, and I would never, I would never say anything because she's dying with cancer. And, you know, that is my daughter's stepmother. And I said, well, what's going on? So basically, they were in a custody battle. Everything in that custody battle, the papers filed, had a hook that Mr. Riley's wife was dying with cancer. And the medical bills were so astronomical. And this ex-wife was so out of control and such a horrible person that they should have custody of this young girl. So basically they attack the bio mom and say she shouldn't have custody because the stepmom, Amanda Riley, is dying of cancer.

Yeah. Well, not only dying, but, you know, this mom was unfit, according to Amanda and Corey, right? So there was a lot of manipulation in that course. So this woman was in the battle of her life to keep her daughter. And they took custody away for a year and a half. And at that point is when I came into Alita's life. I can't believe they got custody of the daughter. And the daughter probably believed the whole thing hook, line and sinker.

Oh, where is she now? Where's the daughter? The daughter now is, and I think it's really important to say this um she does really struggle and she's a wonderful young woman but she does she does struggle uh from what's happened because this was her the majority of her life she was manipulated by this woman under her own roof even to the point where her and the two sons of biological sons of Amanda and Corey were told that they might potentially have to donate plasma or their organs because she was dying. It wasn't just kind of to the outside of the community. They did emotionally damage the children.

Is the bio daughter back with her bio mom? Yes, she is. Guys, this is so much worse than I thought. It was just scamming money. And then I find out about Lindsay Wilder and she stole her plasma like a vampire. You know, Karen Stark,

I've just got to hear your take. A cancer warrior. And Karen, how long have you been battling cancer? I feel like sometimes it's as long as I can remember. It was 10 years, Nancy. It was a whole decade. And yeah, now I'm much better.

I'm fine right now. Praise God. It was a long journey. And when I'm listening to all this as a psychologist, I have to say, I'm not surprised at all. Because someone who is a psychopath, who is able to con people, notoriously charming, wonderful, hard to believe. And if you take a personality like that and you add an illness that no one would ever think somebody would con them about, who would ever come up with something about cancer? And so I am not the least bit surprised that she was able to convince everybody. When I think, Karen, what you have been through, what you have suffered, what you have endured over and over and over again

for 10 years, Karen Stark, and this woman makes a mockery of that using her own children to punish them, to torture them, to further her scam. Guys, it is all in Scamanda. Eight episode limited podcast series that has just dropped. New chapters drop by the week. Scamanda available on every podcast platform.

Apple, Spotify, iHeart, all of them. You have to hear Scamanda. You know, every day I think, well, I've heard it all. But I can truly say that today, after hearing about Amanda Riley, I feel like I've heard it all. That nothing is going to top this woman. Scamanda, it's happening now. To everyone, thank you for being with us. Goodbye, friends. This is an iHeart Podcast.