A New Jersey lady was sentenced to 3 years in state jail on Friday for her function in a $400,000 GoFundMe rip-off through which she and her then-boyfriend lied about serving to a homeless veteran in Philadelphia.
Katelyn McClure, 32, was not current at her sentencing in Burlington County as she is already serving her one-year federal time period within the case in a Connecticut jail, in keeping with the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Workplace.
Her state sentence will run concurrently and the previous New Jersey Division of Transportation employee can be completely barred from ever working as a public worker within the state.
In 2017, McClure and her then-boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after they invented a heartwarming however bogus story claiming {that a} homeless vet, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., had simply spent his final $20 to assist McClure replenish her fuel tank whereas she was stranded on I-95 in Philadelphia.
The pair launched a GoFundMe marketing campaign titled “Paying it Ahead,” which donors believed was to get Bobbitt off the streets and into a house.
The story shortly gained traction as McClure and D’Amico did interviews with native and nationwide media shops. In lower than one month, that they had defrauded greater than 14,000 donors out of $400,000.
The funds had been transferred from GoFundMe to the couple’s private accounts. The 2 blew many of the cash over the subsequent three months on private bills.
The couple advised Bobbitt in regards to the pretend story they’d spun and the cash — which he had beforehand been unaware of. In December 2017, officers say D’Amico opened a checking account for Bobbitt and the 2 deposited $25,000 into the account.
D’Amico, 43, pleaded responsible in December 2019 and was sentenced to 5 years in state jail, a time period additionally working concurrently with an earlier federal time period. He and McClure have each been ordered to totally reimburse GoFundMe.
Bobbitt was sentenced to probationary federal and state phrases.
With Publish Wires
