New Jersey woman gets 3 years in prison for defrauding GoFundMe donor : NPR
Burlington County Attorney’s Office via AP
Mount Holly, NJ — New Jersey woman pleads guilty to helping boyfriend Spread feel-good stories about homeless veterans Raised over $400,000 online.
Caitlin McClure, 32, did not appear in court in Mount Holly on Friday, according to Burlington County prosecutors. Her state prison term will run concurrently, and the former transportation department employee will be barred from working again as a public employee in New Jersey.
Prosecutors allege that McClure and her then-boyfriend Mark D’Amico, homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr., were accused of murdering McClure in November 2017 when her car ran out of gas on an interstate. He claimed to have given him the last $20 and said he came up with the story of the Good Samaritan. Philadelphia exit ramp.
Prosecutors said the three gave newspaper and television interviews and solicited donations, ostensibly to help Bobbitt. Prosecutors said the campaign raised more than $400,000 from about 14,000 donors in about a month, making it the biggest crowdfunding scam ever conducted through his platform at the time.
Authorities launched an investigation after Bobbitt sued the couple for not handing over the money. They finally determined that all the money had been spent by his March 2018, with McClure and D’Amico spending most of it on campervans, BMWs, and trips to casinos in Las Vegas and New Jersey.
D’Amico, 43, pleaded guilty in December 2019 and was sentenced to five years in state prison. He and his McClure were ordered to repay the GoFundMe in full. Bobbitt was sentenced to federal and state probation.
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/07/1147706326/gofundme-bogus-fundraising-sentence-3-years New Jersey woman gets 3 years in prison for defrauding GoFundMe donor : NPR