A New Jersey man who admitted to fabricating a story that a homeless veteran used his only remaining cash to purchase gasoline for his stranded former girlfriend as part of a $400,000 GoFundMe scheme to solicit online donations was sentenced to five years in state prison on Friday.
Mark D’Amico, 43, of Florence, New Jersey, had pleaded guilty in December 2019 and admitted concocting the feel-good tale in late 2017 about Johnny Bobbitt Jr. giving his last $20 to help D’Amico's then girlfriend, Katelyn McClure, when her car ran out of gas on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia.
Prosecutors said at the time that the three had met previously and cooked up the scheme to make money.
The story was quickly picked up by news outlets around the country, and they conducted newspaper and television interviews and solicited donations, ostensibly to help Bobbitt, through a GoFundMe campaign they named "Paying It Forward."
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The campaign raised more than $400,000 from about 14,000 donors in about a month and at the time was the largest fraud perpetrated through the crowdfunding platform, according to the prosecutor's office in Burlington County, New Jersey.
In accordance with the plea agreement, Hon. Christopher J. Garrenger of Superior Court in Mount Holly sentenced D'Amico to five years on the state charge of second-degree misapplication of entrusted property.
D’Amico had also pleaded guilty to separate federal charges and is currently in federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. His state sentence will run concurrently, and when he finishes his 27-month federal sentence he will serve the remainder of his state time, according to the prosecutor's office.
With a staged photo of McClure posing with her supposed hero, the GoFundMe campaign listed a goal of $10,000 to provide Bobbitt with rent for an apartment, a reliable vehicle and six months of living expenses, among other things. But the incoming funds far exceeded their expectations, and authorities began investigating after Bobbitt sued the couple in civil court, alleging he only received $75,000 of the funds raised on his behalf.
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Authorities determined most of some $400,000 total raised was spent by March 2018, with large chunks squandered by McClure and D’Amico 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.
"People genuinely wanted to believe it was true," Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia Bradshaw said in a statement Friday. "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."
D’Amico and McClure have been ordered to fully reimburse GoFundMe.
McClure and Bobbitt also pleaded guilty to state and federal charges. Bobbitt is in a state drug court program as part of his plea agreement and is awaiting federal sentencing.
Last month, McClure was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on federal charges and is awaiting sentencing on state charges, where she is expected to receive additional time.
McClure admitted that she advanced the false narrative about Bobbitt, saying it was at D’Amico’s direction, and pleaded guilty in April 2019 to second degree theft by deception in exchange for a four-year term in state prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 9 in Superior Court in Mount Holly.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
