Woman in $400K GoFundMe scam gets 1 year in federal case
Katelyn McClure and her then-boyfriend Mark D’Amico fabricated a story that homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt, Jr., rescued her from the side of a Philadelphia highway in 2017.
2 years ago
File photo: Mark D'Amico stands while pleading not guilty during his arraignment to charges including theft by deception at Burlington County Superior Court in Mount Holly, N.J., on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. ( Tim Tai/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)
This story originally appeared on 6abc
Mark D’Amico, one of the three conspirators in the notorious GoFundMe scandal, was sentenced to five years in state prison on Friday.
The sentence was handed down in line with a plea agreement, and will run concurrent with his federal prison sentence of 27 months.
D’Amico was not present for the ruling in Burlington County.
He, his-then girlfriend Katelyn McClure, and homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr. defrauded online donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
McClure’s state sentencing was postponed until September 9. She was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison last month.
Johnny Bobbitt is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on August 23.
It all began in late 2017 when McClure and her then-boyfriend D’Amico started a GoFundMe for homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt, claiming Bobbitt gave McClure his last $20 when she ran out of gas on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia.
The made-up story went viral, and 14,000 people donated more than $400,000.
The truth began to emerge after Bobbitt sued the couple, accusing them of keeping the money for themselves.
Court documents show almost none of their story was true.
Still, the couple spent large chunks of the money in a matter of months on lavish casino trips and a BMW.
The trio became the center of a Hulu documentary produced by the 6abc investigative team, called “No Good Deed, A Crowdfunding Holiday Heist.”