People who opened their wallets to help a homeless veteran from Philadelphia in a scam GoFundMe campaign are getting their money fully refunded in time for Christmas.
The donation website that helps people raise money for various campaigns confirmed to the DailyNews that the 14,000 people who donated $400,000 will get their money back.
The veteran, Johnny Bobbitt, 35, Katelyn McClure and her former boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, allegedly concocted a feel-good story about Bobbitt giving McClure his last $20 when her car ran out of gas in an effort to swindle real-life Good Samaritans out of money.
'All donors who contributed to this GoFundMe campaign have been fully refunded. GoFundMe always fully protects donors, which is why we have a comprehensive refund policy in place,' spokesman Bobby Whithorne said.
Katelyn McClure (right), her former boyfriend Mark D'Amico (center) and homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt (left) allegedly conspired to scam people in a GoFundMe campaign that raised $400,000 with a fake story about the vet giving her his last $20 to buy gas
'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. We are fully cooperating and assisting law enforcement officials to recover every dollar withdrawn by Ms. McClure and Mr. D'Amico.'
While GoFundMe usually keeps 2.9 per cent, and an additonal 30 cents per transaction, it said all of the money including the transaction costs will be returned to the donors.
Earlier this month a judge released Bobbitt from jail pending trial.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed at a court hearing in Mount Holly, New Jersey that Johnny Bobbitt would be released and return to his apartment in Philadelphia, subject to electronic monitoring.
He is also required to attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
Bobbitt had been being held in Burlington County Jail in the Garden State on fraud, conspiracy and theft charges.
A judge ruled that Johnny Bobbitt, 35, the homeless veteran from Philadelphia who allegedly schemed with a New Jersey couple to scam GoFundMe donors was to be released pending trial
Bobbitt will have to attend NA meetings three times each week and submit to random drug testing in order to maintain his freedom while he awaits trial, state Superior Court Judge Mark Tarantino ordered
Bobbitt will have to attend NA meetings three times each week and submit to random drug testing in order to maintain his freedom while he awaits trial, state Superior Court Judge Mark Tarantino ordered.
He'll return to the apartment he had been staying in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia while he awaits trial, the Inquirer reported.
Bobbitt, McClure and D'Amico raised $400,000 on GoFundMe last year, which authorities say was spent on luxury items and casino trips.
All three face conspiracy and theft charges.
Through her attorney, McClure, 28, claimed last month that she was duped by D'Amico, 39, and genuinely thought she was helping Bobbitt.
D'Amico's lawyer has denied the claims.
Prosecutors also previously released texts from McClure including one sent less than an hour after the couple set up the GoFundMe page where she allegedly wrote to a friend that the 'gas part is completely made up' and to 'shush about the made-up stuff.'
Prosecutors began investigating last summer after Bobbitt claimed he wasn't getting the money that had been raised on his behalf. He later sued the couple.
Meanwhile, McClure has been suspended from her state job with the Department of Transportation.
McClure, from Trenton, was a receptionist at DOT and a spokesperson confirmed on November 21 that McClure is on 'suspension status'.
The representative declined to say whether she was being paid or unpaid during the time out of office.
McClure and her boyfriend Mark D'Amico have split since they got in trouble for the crowdfunding scam. McClure has now turned against her ex and shared secret audio to help
McClure was being paid around $43,000 per year for the role she started in 2014, reports NJ.com.
'I told Kate this was inevitable once the charges had been made public by the Prosecutor,' her lawyer James Gerrow told the publication.
'Unfortunately, it is standard operating procedure for a governmental entity. Yet, it adds to the traumatizing impact this case has had on Kate.'
In claiming that McClure was duped by D'Amicom her lawyer released a secret audio recording that she claims prove her innocence.
D'Amico's lawyer, Mark Davis, responded by saying: 'She seems to be on a crusade to save her a** at the moment, I assume because her name is on everything.'
The recording was made on September 2, after Bobbitt sued the couple, claiming they were raiding his funds and throwing the scheme into jeopardy.
'You started the whole f**king thing, you did everything. I had no part in any of this and I'm the one f**king taking the fall,' McClure is heard saying in the audio released to Good Morning America, which could not be independently verified.
In November 2017, McClure and D'Amico created the GoFundMe campaign supposedly to benefit Bobbitt, who they claimed was living under a bridge and had spent his last $20 to help McClure when she ran out of gas.
McClure shot video supposedly of the moment Bobbitt bought her the gas, and went on to do numerous television interviews peddling the fake story, until all three were arrested in November.
McClure's attorney Gerrow told GMA that D'Amico was 'calling the shots' in the alleged scheme.
'People have to understand that this was an abusive relationship. Mr. D'Amico was the one behind this and he was the one calling all the shots,' Gerrow said.
'She didn't understand or appreciate that this may very well be a crime,' the attorney said.
In the secret audio, D'Amico is heard telling McClure: 'You don't go to jail for lying on TV, you dumb b***h.'
'You heard what he said, if this turns into a criminal thing,' McClure responds. D'Amico repeats: 'You don't go to jail for lying on TV.'
'But who made me lie on TV?' the girlfriend says. D'Amico replies: 'Who cares?'
At another point in the recording, D'Amico is heard lambasting McClure as anything but innocent: 'How much did you spend in Cali? $2,500? [unintelligible] $3,700? So just right there is $40,000, now you wanna talk about everything else? You act like you didn't spend a dollar.'
McClure responds: 'I never said that I didn't spend a dollar.'
McClure (left) claimed homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt (right) helped her when she ran out of gas. But prosecutors say she and D'Amico actually met him at a Philadelphia casino
The scam came crashing down last month, when New Jersey prosecutors announced that McClure, D'Amico and Bobbitt had all been charged with second-degree theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception.
'Less than an hour after the GoFundMe campaign went live, McClure, in a text exchange with a friend, stated that the story about Bobbitt assisting her was 'completely made up',' Burlington County prosecutor Scott Coffina told a press conference.
The couple claimed to be setting up the GoFundMe page for Bobbitt (left)
'I had to make something up to make people feel bad,' McClure said in a text - one of 60,000 reviewed by prosecutors - to a friend.
In one text exchange in March 2018, McClure worried that she and D'Amico had less than $10,000 remaining, but D'Amico wasn't concerned as he believed they'd make more money off a book deal for a titled pitched as No Good Deed, Coffina said.
Coffina added: 'She did not run out of gas on an I-95 off-ramp, and he did not spend his last $20 to help her.'
The prosecutor added: 'D'Amico, McClure and Bobbitt conspired to fabricate and promote a feel-good story that would compel donors to contribute to their cause.'
A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said they would be seeking jail sentences 'of some length' which could be between five and 10 years.
On November 16, McClure's lawyer revealed that she had split with D'Amico.
'They are not living together anymore and she's not taking his calls,' attorney James Gerrow told Fox 29 at the time.
Asked whether McClure believes D'Amico betrayed her, the lawyer said there was 'no question about that'.
Gerrow said McClure tried twice to meet with law enforcement to stop the scam and when she tried to halt the fundraising, GoFundMe did not allow it.
'Kate was being used by both Mr. D'Amico and Mr. Bobbitt and because D'Amico knew she was a very kind person also a bit naïve they set up,' Gerrow said.
He added about her reluctance to reveal the scam after they appeared on the likes of Good Morning America: 'What she was concerned about is people will stop giving to causes like this because at her core, she wanted to help this man.'
It all went wrong for the trio when Bobbitt filed a civil case against the couple, which has been put on hold while an investigation into potential criminal proceedings related to the raised money plays out, DailyMailTV learned.
Then authorities believed something was amiss in the story Bobbitt told them
The couple have shared photos on social media of themselves taking a helicopter ride and a trip to Disney during luxury vacations to Las Vegas and LA. The trio also posed for pictures with another woman in New York
In the civil suit, Bobbitt says they used the account as a 'personal piggy bank' to 'fund a lifestyle they could not otherwise afford'. It led to authorities searching the couple's home in September and finding lavish belongings.
The couple have shared photos on social media of themselves taking a helicopter ride and a trip to Disney during luxury vacations to Las Vegas and LA. They also posted pictures of shopping sprees and front-row seats at a Broadway show.
The homeless veteran sued the couple who he said hadn't given him all the money they should have
They insisted that they had done nothing wrong and had not spent a single dollar on themselves.
D'Amico did admit to spending $500 from the fundraising campaign at SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia, though he insists he paid it all back with his winnings.
D'Amico had previously said the couple believed Bobbitt shouldn't get the money until he was clean and would spend it responsibly.
He told The Philadelphia Inquirer in September: 'Giving him all that money, it's never going to happen. I'll burn it in front of him.'
But the entire story - including Bobbitt's innocence - was a complete lie, prosecutors have said. They realized something was amiss among the details which hinted at Bobbitt's involvement.
Originally aiming for just $10,000, the money was supposed to be spent on a home and a truck for Bobbitt, as well as a trust and retirement fund.
'The entire campaign was predicated on a lie,' the prosecutor Coffina said. 'It was fictitious and illegal and there are consequences.'
McClure and D'Amico have been out on bail and are due back in court on December 24 in Burlington County for their first appearance on fraud charges.
Prosecutors released a detailed timeline of the case, including when they concocted the story (October 2017), the amount of money transferred from GoFundMe to their personal bank accounts, and the the trips they went on with the cash
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/25/donors-for-gofundme-scam-raised-400000-homeless-veteran-gave-his-last-20-to-buy-her-gas-refunded/
Main photo article People who opened their wallets to help a homeless veteran from Philadelphia in a scam GoFundMe campaign are getting their money fully refunded in time for Christmas.
The donation website that helps people raise money for various campaigns confirmed to the DailyNews that the 14,000 people who...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/17/00/6299288-6399677-image-a-7_1542415443488.jpg
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