N.J. woman sentenced to prison for role in GoFundMe scam about helping homeless vet Johnny Bobbitt
The scam started with a lie about Johnny Bobbitt Jr., who the couple said came to Kate McClure’s rescue when she ran out of gas off an exit on I-95 in Philadelphia on a cold night in fall 2017.
A Burlington County woman was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for her role in a notorious GoFundMe scam that raised $400,000 based on a bogus story about helping a homeless veteran, prosecutors said Thursday.
Kate McClure, 32, of Bordentown, previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. McClure was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman.
In April, Mark D’Amico, who was McClure’s boyfriend at the time of the scam, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.
Johnny Bobbitt Jr., the veteran and purported beneficiary of the fundraising campaign, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in 2019.
The GoFundMe campaign started with the lie that Bobbitt had come to McClure’s rescue when she ran out of gas off an exit on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia on a cold night in the fall of 2017. They falsely claimed that Bobbitt used his last $20 to pay for her gas and posted a photo of McClure and Bobbitt in front of the Girard Avenue exit of I-95 with the title “Paying It Forward.”
Text messages show McClure and D’Amico had recently encountered Bobbitt near the SugarHouse Casino and were indeed interested in helping him. The couple decided to create the GoFundMe and set a goal of $10,000. The gas story was made up to garner sympathy.
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Eventually, 14,000 donors gave $400,000, thinking they were helping the Marine veteran get off the streets.
The three made national television appearances to share their story and the couple at one point talked about a book and movie deal.
The couple bought Bobbitt a camper, and he lived for a time on property McClure’s family owns in Florence, Burlington County. They also gave Bobbitt about $25,000, authorities said, some of which he spent on drugs.
D’Amico and McClure spent the rest of the money on vacations to Disney World, Disneyland, and Las Vegas, a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, gambling excursions, a luxury car, and designer handbags, among other things, authorities said.
The scheme unraveled when Bobbitt, upset that the couple had not given him what he considered his fair share of the money, accused them of squandering the GoFundMe donations. Pro bono lawyers for Bobbitt went to court to get an accounting of the money, and a lawyer for McClure and D’Amico admitted it was gone.