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Two Grifters In The NJ GoFundMe Scam Plead Guilty
By
Claire Lampen
Published Mar 6, 2019
Modified Mar 6, 2019
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By
Claire Lampen
Published Mar 6, 2019
Modified Mar 6, 2019
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Two thirds of the GoFundMe grifter trio who concocted a heartwarming con pleaded guilty to various scamming charges on Wednesday. Katelyn McClure faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while Johnny Bobbitt could serve up to 10 for conspiracy to commit money laundering.
To jog your memory, this saga began in 2017 with a viral act of random generosity: McClure said she ran out of gas on a New Jersey highway, and Bobbitt—a homeless man who just happened to find himself on the scene—used his last $20 to refill her tank. At the time, McClure says she reimbursed Bobbitt, but she also launched a GoFundMe to raise money for an apartment and basic necessities to get Bobbitt off the street. She and her then-boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, just wanted to "pay it forward," they insisted.
Readers across the nation marveled at the kindness of strangers, and soon enough, McClure, D'Amico, and Bobbitt began making the media rounds.
With all that attention came scrutiny: Although the crowdfunding campaign raised over $400,000, more than enough to pay for Bobbitt's housing, he remained homeless. McClure and D'Amico, meanwhile, started taking expensive vacations. McClure, a receptionist, began driving around in a BMW. As Bobbitt accused them of spending the GoFundMe money on themselves, the couple maintained their innocence, explaining that they had to mete out Bobbitt's money slowly over time to keep him from spending it all on drugs. Bobbitt sued, drawing law enforcement into the case.
The withholding explanation apparently struck a New Jersey judge as somewhat thin, and police executed a search warrant on McClure and D'Amico's home in September, confiscating their lavish purchases. GoFundMe, meanwhile, pledged to get Bobbitt the promised sum in whole, BUT THEN, investigators uncovered evidence that all three players had worked together on the scam. D'Amico and McClure turned themselves in, and Bobbitt was arrested shortly thereafter.
And still the story continued to twist and turn! The next week, ABC's Good Morning America aired audio in which McClure could be heard screaming at D'Amico for having "started the whole f*cking thing."
"I had no part in any of this, and I'm the one f*cking taking the fall," she raged on the recording, alleging that D'Amico made her lie on television.
The trio still face charges of second-degree theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception in a separate case. On Wednesday, prosecutors told the court that next to nothing happened the way McClure and D'Amico said it did: No one ran out of gas, no last $20 changed hands.
"The entire campaign was predicated on a lie," prosecutor Scott Coffina said, according to the Guardian. "It was fictitious and illegal—and there are consequences."
Tagged
gofundme
gofundmegrifters
johnny bobbitt
katelyn mcclure
mark d'amico
nj
scams
Claire Lampen
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