Girl In $400K GoFundMe Rip-off Will get 1 Yr In Jail

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A girl who admitted her position in a rip-off that raised $400,000 the usage of a pretend tale a few homeless guy gained a one-year jail sentence in federal court docket Thursday.

Katelyn McClure used to be additionally ordered to make restitution and serve 3 years’ supervised unencumber. The 32-year-old Bordentown, New Jersey resident is scheduled to be sentenced on state fees subsequent month and may just obtain extra jail time.

A message used to be left Thursday with an legal professional representing McClure.

McClure and her then-boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, fabricated the tale about homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr. giving McClure $20 when she ran out of fuel on a Philadelphia freeway in 2017.

If truth be told, state and federal prosecutors stated, the gang had met close to a Philadelphia on line casino in October 2017 in a while sooner than they informed their tale.

They publicized the tale thru native and nationwide media interviews and created a GoFundMe account that greater than 14,000 other folks donated to, considering the cash used to be to assist Bobbitt, in line with prosecutors. Legislation enforcement started investigating after Bobbitt sued the couple, accusing them of now not giving him the cash.

The federal felony criticism alleged all the cash raised within the marketing campaign used to be spent via March 2018, with huge chunks spent via McClure and D’Amico on a leisure automobile, a BMW and journeys to casinos in Las Vegas and New Jersey.

D’Amico, described as the gang’s ringleader, pleaded responsible to federal fees and used to be sentenced in April to 27 months in jail. He used to be additionally ordered to make restitution and is scheduled for sentencing on separate state fees subsequent month.

Bobbitt used to be sentenced to 5 years’ probation on state fees in 2019 and faces sentencing subsequent month on federal fees.