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Woman Sentenced To 3 Years After Bogus GoFundMe For Homeless Veteran In New Jersey

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Katelyn McClure Pleads Guilty [Photo: New York Post]
Katelyn McClure Pleads Guilty [Photo: New York Post]

Katelyn McClure was sentenced to 3 years in prison after setting up a bogus GoFundMe fundraiser for a homeless veteran in New Jersey. The veteran in question sued after not receiving any money from the fundraiser.

McClure and D'Amico with Bobbitt Jr. [Photo: Courier Post]

McClure and D’Amico with Bobbitt Jr. [Photo: Courier Post]

Katelyn McClure, 32, pleaded guilty to the bogus GoFundMe fundraiser set up for a homeless veteran in New Jersey. According to the prosecutors, McClure and her boyfriend then, Mark D’Amico, 43, came up with a good samaritan story about a homeless veteran named Johnny Bobbitt Jr. The story claims that in November 2017, Bobbitt Jr. had given his last $20 to McClure when she ran out of gas on an interstate exit in Philadelphia. Solicited donations and newspaper and television interviews were done to help Bobbitt Jr. through a GoFundMe fundraiser named “Paying It Forward”. The fundraiser allegedly collected over $400,000 from around 14,000 donors in a month. 

According to CBS News, Bobbitt Jr. has sued the couple after not receiving any money from the fundraiser. The authorities eventually determined that all of the money raised was spent by the couple on March 2018 for a BMW and trips to casinos in New Jersey and Las Vegas. This became the largest fraud executed through the GoFundMe platform at that time.

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The Ruling of The Court

In December 2019, D’Amico pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 5 years in a state prison. McClure has also pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to 3 years in prison after facing charges of state theft. According to Burlington County prosecutors, McClure was not present in the Mount Holly courtroom on January 6 because she is currently serving in a federal prison in Connecticut. The couple has both been mandated to fully compensate GoFundMe as well. On the other hand, Bobbitt Jr. was sentenced to probationary state and federal terms, as reported by CBS News.

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