Victims Recall Alleged Cancer Scam

For a former co-worker and a friend of Leron Magilner, the man police say was , it was a surreal experience to find out the person they once called friend was lying to them.

“I find new stuff everyday. It’s incredible,” said Cortney McGowan about what she discovered about Magilner. McGowan was Magilner’s manager at the Wooden Indian Smoke shop and who was granted power of attorney for him.

McGowan, who had known Magilner for two years, said that he was helpful and friendly when he was working at the Havertown tobacco store on Eagle Road. But when Magilner recovered from testicular cancer, which according to McGowan was real, but claimed he was dying of pancreatic cancer, she became suspicious.

“I’m not going to lie, I didn’t believe him,” she said when Magilner allegedly told the staff of the Wooden Indian Smoke shop that doctors gave him until September to live.

One of the things that made McGowan skeptical of the 34-year-old Havertown man’s pancreatic cancer claim was his refusal to get a second opinion.

Her instincts may have proved right, when the Haverford Township Police stated they discovered forged medical records that Magilner allegedly used to show people that he had cancer.

But the final straw for McGowan was when Magilner was taken to the Delaware County Memorial Hospital after a fall last month. Police and McGowan, who was at the hospital with the accused, said that Magilner allegedly refused any tests for his cancer.

“When I told the doctor that (Magilner) had stage 4 pancreatic cancer, he looked at me like I had seven heads,” McGowan said, adding that the doctor did not believe Magilner was a cancer patient.

McGowan also stated that Magilner allegedly kept telling the doctor the wrong medications he was allegedly on.

Once Magilner left the hospital and went home, McGowan said that she made him have his cancer doctor call her and confirm that Magilner had cancer.

“He called me up with a fake Chinese accent,” McGowan claimed, saying that Magilner pretended to be his cancer doctor. “I pretended to lose (phone) service so I wouldn’t freak him out. I didn’t want him to off himself.”

That is when she contacted police she said.

But another former associate of Magilner, who wished to remain anonymous for this story, claimed that the man he called “friend” for seven years seemed to have shave his head, as if to appear to be a cancer victim. 

Both the former friend and McGowan held fundraisers for Magilner they say, to help pay for his alleged medical costs and expenses. At the moment, police say that Magilner received more than $8,000 from the fundraisers, but his former friend says it is not about the money that bothers him most.

“Forget the money involved, it’s the people who can’t rub two nickels together and they gave money to him,” he said. “Now they won’t donate again maybe.”

His former friend, who said he had a fundraiser BBQ in his house for Magilner and allowed the accused to sleep over, said he is afraid that people will stop donating money to worthy causes because they will start to wonder if the money will go to someone who does not have an illness. 

McGowan also called Magilner manipulative, claiming that he pitted her against another mutual friend, who was not interviewed for this story.

“He played his buddy against me,” she said, but added that since police charged Magilner with deception and identity theft, she and the friend have worked things out. 

A phone number listed for a Leron Magilner has been disconnected.

Both McGowan and Magilner’s former friend have their own views as to why he allegedly lied about having cancer. McGowan thinks that he did it because he saw it as a chance not to work, while his former friend believes he liked the attention.

But despite what he says as a lot of negativity revolving around this case, Magilner’s former friend still has hope in people.

“Leron damages your faith in the human race, but you’ll find 100 people who will renew it,” he said. “… There is a lot more good than bad in Havertown. This shouldn’t define Havertown.”