The woman and homeless veteran at the center of a GoFundMe campaign that turned out to be a scam have pleaded guilty in federal court.
The story in November 2017 was that a woman ran out of gas on a Philadelphia highway. Kate McClure said Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless military veteran, spent his only money, $20, to get her gas for her car, WPVI reported.
McClure and her boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Bobbitt. Eventually, they raised more than $400,000.
But last year, their story unraveled. Prosecutors said the trio were not strangers and the story never happened. Bobbitt, McClure and D'Amico knew each other for a month before their story went viral. WPVI reported the web of lies started to unravel when Bobbitt took the couple to court for his cut of the money, which was gone by that time, spent by McClure and D'Amico on travel, a car and gambling, prosecutors said.
Both McClure and Bobbitt pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, KYW reported.
D'Amico was charged with theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, according to KYW.
GoFundMe refunded the money to the 14,000 donors, KYW reported.
Credit: Burlington County Prosecutors Office via AP, File
Credit: Burlington County Prosecutors Office via AP, File
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