Woman gets 3 years in bogus good Samaritan online fundraiser

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

today

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey woman who pleaded guilty to helping her boyfriend spread a feel-good story about a homeless veteran that garnered more than $400,000 in online donations has been sentenced to three years in prison on state theft charges.

Burlington County prosecutors say Katelyn McClure, 32, wasn’t present in the Mount Holly courtroom Friday because she is serving a one-year federal term in the case. Her state prison term will run concurrently and the former transportation department worker will be barred from ever working again as a New Jersey public employee.

Prosecutors said McClure and her then-boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, came up with the good Samaritan story in November 2017, claiming that homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr. had given his last $20 to McClure when her car ran out of gas on an interstate exit ramp in Philadelphia.

The three conducted newspaper and television interviews and solicited donations, ostensibly to help Bobbitt, through a GoFundMe campaign they named “Paying It Forward,” prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the campaign raised more than $400,000 from about 14,000 donors in about a month and at the time was the largest fraud perpetrated through the crowdfunding platform.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/new-jersey-prisons-2008b56b78d6d3927e5da5ad45ce7062

[SergeStorms]

1. Greed.

It drives some people to do despicable things in the name of doing good things.

Trust, but verify. Always verify.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. John Wayne Bobbitt and Lorena Bobbitt had a kid? 🤣🤣🤣

.

Weird Al Live version with the Crash Test Dummies. (Must go to YouTube to watch)

.

[iluvtennis]

3. Just DESPICABLE. n/t

[CloudWatcher]

4. They almost got away with it ....

Last edited Sun Jan 8, 2023, 01:46 AM - Edit history (1)

Authorities began investigating after Bobbitt sued the couple, accusing them of not giving him the money.

They just didn't bother sharing the booty with the homeless guy. Oops.

[DENVERPOPS]

5. Smaller, by far,

than Trump, his spawn, Jared, and fellow Republican politicians grifted from their supposed campaign donors, and countless other financial scams........

And that was peanuts, compared to the tens of billions scammed by people and corporations, corruptly filing for federal money during the Covid pandemic.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. They were being Good Samaritans

to themselves!

[keithbvadu2]

7. While the Trumps stole charity money from cancer kids and had to attend ethics classes.

While the Trumps stole charity money from cancer kids and had to attend ethics classes.

[AllyCat]

17. Regular people get jail terms.

The rich and famous get nothing.

[DENVERPOPS]

18. Any of the Trump Clan attending "ethics" classes

is about as ridiculous as me attending an upper level course in College mathematics.......

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Since this was a local story here in Philly metro

the main reason this was even outed as fraud was due to the arrogance and greed of McClure and D'Amico, who managed to keep and spend most of the money on themselves while only setting aside a small portion for Bobbitt after they got him into a trailer to live in that was (IIRC) parked on a relative's property. I.e., Bobbitt spilled the beans and then the finger-pointing commenced.

I was wondering why this was in the news again but it's apparently due to NJ state charges (since they are serving time for federal).

[NBachers]

9. So that means when they get out of Federal prison, they'll be shuttled directly to the State joint.

Finish one sentence, start the next one.

[Shoonra]

10. If anyone has extra money ...

If anyone has a few dollars burning a hole in his pocket, I'd like to call attention to a genuine case of a person in need. David Hagemeyer is the deaf son of deaf parents, and relied entirely on Sign Language to converse (not lipreading or speech), but a catastrophic accident paralyzed him from the armpits down, so he cannot move his hands. It appears that he will be like this for the rest of his life. His wife is also deaf.

His GoFundMe page shows he's $4000 short of a substantial medical/rehab bill. I know him and his family and I think he is deserving of help. I'm not asking anyone to pay a lot of money, but if a lot of people each kick in $10 or $20 it would make a big difference.

Here's his page, written by his (hearing) mother-in-law:
[link:https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-davids-spinal-cord-injury-recovery?qid=2721357784bb81ff59426ae67c3b3c8a|

[ToxMarz]

11. "at the time was the largest fraud perpetrated through the crowdfunding platform"

That we know about. I have no doubt it is rampant. People go to far more elaborate sophisticated means to defraud all the time, this is just too easy begging for abuse.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

13. Yep...best comment...Other than cat videos, what isn't a fraud in the digital world?

Oh, and offering the world the chance to beiconstantly outraged at the common, boring follies of others.

[cbabe]

12. Yep. Defraud all the time...

https://www.msn.com › en-us › news › crime › real-housewife-jen-shah-sentenced-to-65-years-for-telemarketing-scam-targeting-elderly-women › ar-AA163Kbz

'Real Housewife' Jen Shah sentenced to 6.5 years for telemarketing scam ...

Jan 6 2023
"Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star Jennifer Shah was sentenced to six and half years in prison on Friday for running a nearly decade-long nationwide telemarketing scam that mainly targeted...

[Vinca]

14. Wonderful, but what about the serious grifters like Trump and Santos?

It's time to put the big time operators in jail, not the small fry.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

16. that was so long ago

[XorXor]

19. Ahh yeah, I remember that story.

If I recall correctly, I also remember people were skeptical of it from early on, though. I can't remember the details on what people found suspicious. I might also be misremembering. Ehnn, whatever.