In September 2023, a video went viral on social media of a Black woman in Texas named Roda Osman explaining that she got hit with a brick by a man because she did not want to give him her number.
Osman is now being accused of fraudulently raising tens of thousands of dollars in a GoFundMe scam and lying about the incident.
The 33-year-old woman has been charged with felony theft by deception. According to charging documents, Osman raised around $40,000 through a fraudulent GoFundMe page which she started in September 2023 that claimed she was a victim of a similar attack more than three years ago.
Woman claims her head was smashed in with a brick after rejecting a guy, turns out it she was lying… pic.twitter.com/YKYscgcdmI
— Crazy Hub (@CrazyHubb) January 11, 2024
Osman told detectives on Sept. 19 that on Sept. 3, she and her friend left a nightclub and called an Uber. When a dark-colored sedan pulled up, Osman thought it was the Uber she called and got inside. Osman said that’s when the suspect hit her in the face with a brick.
On Sept. 20, Houston police detectives watched surveillance footage of where the assault was reported. The man that Osman claimed hit her was identified as Olan Douglas.
Detectives said that Douglas, Osman, and her friend were seen walking and talking toward a lounge, and went inside together. Twenty minutes later, the three walked out of the club and toward a white Maserati. Footage showed Osman dancing with Douglas near the car while her friend was talking to another man.
The video then showed all four people getting into the white car. According to court documents, Osman and Douglas got into an argument in the backseat of the car, and Douglas swung his right hand while holding what appeared to be a plastic water bottle, and struck Osman in the face. The footage capturing the incident did not support Osman’s recorded statement.
During the investigation, detectives received a call from Daphne Sutton, a blogger on TikTok, who believed Osman was conducting a scam. She provided detectives with another GoFundMe account that Osman created in 2020 with the narrative that a Black man hit her in Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis Police Department told the Houston Police Department that they hadn’t received any reports of Osman being assaulted in 2020. According to court records, Osman has several prior charges in several jurisdictions and is currently on bail for a separate offense from Sept. 22, 2023, for felony assault and domestic violence.
