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Prosecutor: Homeless vet, NJ couple from viral GoFundMe campaign made it all up

All three individuals were charged with second degree theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception.
Credit: The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP
In this Nov. 17, 2017, file photo, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., left, Kate McClure, right, and McClure's boyfriend Mark D'Amico pose at a Citgo station in Philadelphia.

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. — It was a feel-good story that was too good to be true, authorities say.

Prosecutors on Thursday announced criminal charges against a New Jersey couple and a homeless veteran at the center of a legal dispute over hundreds of thousands of dollars in online donations.

The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office has charged Katelyn McClure and Mark D'Amico, both of Florence, with theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft in connection with the viral story of a homeless man's supposed act of kindness.

The man described by the couple as a good Samaritan, homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr., was charged with the same crimes, officials said.

Officials say the trio concocted a fictitious story meant to tug at peoples' heartstrings and prompt them to donate to a crowdfunding campaign.

Bobbitt came into the spotlight last November after the couple started sharing a story of the man coming to McClure's rescue.

McClure had reportedly run out of gas on an Interstate 295 exit ramp in Philadelphia. Bobbitt, a homeless Marine, used his last $20 to buy fuel for the stranded motorist and get her back on the road, they said.

Credit: The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP
In this Nov. 17, 2017, file photo, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., left, Kate McClure, right, and McClure's boyfriend Mark D'Amico pose at a Citgo station in Philadelphia.

McClure and her boyfriend, D'Amico, then reportedly returned to give Bobbitt gifts and money as a thank you and set up a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe.

The goal was to raise $10,000 for the man to help get his life turned around by providing enough money for him to secure an apartment, car and some living expenses, they said.

But Bobbitt's story went viral, and more than 14,000 donors contributed nearly $403,000 to the campaign as it captured international media attention.

"The entire campaign was predicated on a lie," Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said Thursday.

Coffina said McClure texted a friend an hour after the GoFundMe campaign went live to say the story was "completely made up."

Officials said Bobbitt and McClure didn't have a chance meeting on Nov. 10, 2017. Instead, Bobbitt met the couple "for at least a month prior to the date of the GoFundMe campaign's launch," Coffina said, "as they had become acquainted with him during their frequent trips to a local gambling casino."

Coffina said his office examined more than 60,000 text messages and thousands of pages of financial documents that it subpoenaed to piece together what happened to that money.

D’Amico and McClure used it to buy a BMW and “high-end” handbags, take a New Year’s trip to Las Vegas, the prosecutor said. More than $85,000 was withdrawn near casinos in Atlantic City, Las Vegas and Bensalem, Pennsylvania, authorities said.

Just a few months after the GoFundMe was launched, all of the money had been spent, Coffina said.

In a March 2018 text exchange, the prosecutor said, McClure “lamented” that the couple had less than $10,000 left.

“But D’Amico wasn’t worried,” the prosecutor said, noting he was certain the “payday from the book deal they were pursuing would dwarf the money generated by the GoFundMe campaign.”

The relationship soured in August when an attorney representing Bobbitt filed a civil suit claiming McClure and D'Amico hadn't turned over nearly $200,000 of the donation fund.

The couple was ordered to turn over to their attorney all remaining money and provide an accounting of the money spent and what was left.

That didn't happen, though, and the judge considered — but ultimately decided against — charging McClure and D'Amico with contempt of court.

Even after the dispute became public, D’Amico still had confidence another windfall would come to him, Coffina said. The prosecutor said D’Amico pitched a title for a book that would address the controversy: “No Good Deed.”

The prosecutor's office on Sept. 6 executed a search warrant on their Cedar Lane Extension home.

All donations will be refunded, GoFundMe said Thursday.

While this type of behavior by an individual is extremely rare, it's unacceptable and clearly it has consequences. Committing fraud, whether it takes place on or offline is against the law," said spokesman Bobby Whithorne.

Whithorne said refunds will be processed "in the coming days."

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