Woman In $400K GoFundMe Scam Gets 1 Year In Prison

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A girl who admitted her position in a rip-off that raised $400,000 utilizing a pretend story a couple of homeless man acquired a one-year jail sentence in federal courtroom Thursday.

Katelyn McClure was additionally ordered to make restitution and serve three years’ supervised launch. The 32-year-old Bordentown, New Jersey resident is scheduled to be sentenced on state fees subsequent month and will obtain extra jail time.

A message was left Thursday with an legal professional representing McClure.

McClure and her then-boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, fabricated the story about homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr. giving McClure $20 when she ran out of gasoline on a Philadelphia freeway in 2017.

In reality, state and federal prosecutors mentioned, the group had met close to a Philadelphia on line casino in October 2017 shortly earlier than they advised their story.

They publicized the story via native and nationwide media interviews and created a GoFundMe account that greater than 14,000 folks donated to, considering the cash was to assist Bobbitt, in keeping with prosecutors. Regulation enforcement started investigating after Bobbitt sued the couple, accusing them of not giving him the cash.

The federal felony grievance alleged the entire cash raised within the marketing campaign was spent by March 2018, with massive chunks spent by McClure and D’Amico on a leisure car, a BMW and journeys to casinos in Las Vegas and New Jersey.

D’Amico, described because the group’s ringleader, pleaded responsible to federal fees and was sentenced in April to 27 months in jail. He was additionally ordered to make restitution and is scheduled for sentencing on separate state fees subsequent month.

Bobbitt was sentenced to 5 years’ probation on state fees in 2019 and faces sentencing subsequent month on federal fees.