Man Sentenced To 5 Years For Fabricating Story Of Homeless Veteran In GoFundMe Scam

A New Jersey man, who fabricated a story about a homeless veteran, to scam thousands in donations through a GoFundMe page has been sentenced to prison.

Mark D'Amico of Florence was sentenced to five years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to scamming over $400,000 in donations.

D'Amico along with his then-girlfriend Katelyn McClure and the homeless veteran, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., cooked up a story about how the latter offered his last $20 to fill up the woman's tank after she ran out of money on a Pennsylvania interstate in the middle of the night in November 2017, New York Times reported.

The couple shared this heart-warming story on the crowdfunding platform, and asked for money to help Bobbitt get an apartment and a car. The story soon gained national attention, and people generously poured in money to support the veteran, surpassing the couple's targeted $10,000 goal.

However, the fraud scheme unraveled after Bobbitt filed a lawsuit in 2018, claiming the couple took most of the donations and left him with around $75,000.

The investigation revealed the couple spent the rest of the money "on casino gambling and personal items such as a BMW, a New Year's trip to Las Vegas, a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, and Louis Vuitton handbags," the prosecutors said, as reported by NBC News.

"People genuinely wanted to believe it was true. But it was all a lie, and it was illegal. Our office is pleased to bring justice for the more than 14,000 kind-hearted people who thought they were helping someone who was living in a desperate situation," Burlington Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said.

The three were charged in 2018 "with concocting the feel-good story that misled potential donors," a statement by the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said.

Bobbitt pleaded guilty in March 2019 to charges of conspiracy to commit theft by deception in the second degree. As part of the plea deal, Bobbitt was asked to seek treatment for addiction problems and if he fails to stay clean, he would face five years in state prison.

A month later, McClure pleaded guilty to the charges of theft by deception in the second degree. However, McClure claimed she fabricated the story as directed by D'Amico. She was sentenced to one year in prison by the federal court, and was scheduled to face a state sentence on Sept. 9.

D'Amico was previously sentenced to 27 months in federal prison, and his two sentences will run concurrently, reports said. He has also been ordered to make full restitution to GoFundMe.