Current Events > Couple, homeless man accused of setting up GoFundMe campaign predicated on a lie

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/15/us/couple-homeless-man-gofundme/index.html

A New Jersey couple and a homeless man have been accused of making up a feel-good story that raised more than $400,000 through GoFundMe.
The couple, Kate McClure and Mark D'Amico, and the man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., face charges of second-degree theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said Thursday.
The couple had said they met Bobbitt when he gave his last $20 to McClure, who was stranded on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, so she could put gas in her car, then started the GoFundMe campaign as a way to thank him.
"The paying-it-forward story that drove this fundraiser might seem too good to be true," Coffina said at a press conference.

"Unfortunately, it was. The entire campaign was predicated on a lie."
After fees, the proceeds of the campaign netted about $367,000, all deposited into McClure's accounts, Coffina said. Bobbitt received $75,000, and within months McClure and D'Amico had "squandered" their share to buy a car, high-end handbags and trips, Coffina said. They also used it at casinos, he said.
Coffina stressed that while Bobbitt, a veteran, deserves thanks for his service to the country and sympathy for his situation, he was fully complicit in the crime, making media appearances to help "promote the fraudulent campaign."

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I probably should have expected that curveball.
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Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
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All of them deserve jail, particularly the two "masterminds".

3 years, no early release. 1 year for the bum.
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Originally the bum was supposed to be this awesome good guy, turned out he was part of the scheme all along, and he was pissed that he didn't get his share of the deal.

Top 10 Anime Betrayal
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