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.
Investigators reviewed more than 67,000 text messages in the case, including one McClure sent to a friend that read, "Okay so wait the gas part is completely made up, but the guy isn't. I had to make something up to make people feel bad."
In other texts, the couple discussed their inability to pay bills and their mounting debts.
Coffina also pointed out that Bobbitt posted a "remarkably similar" story on his Facebook page in 2012.
At the time, he wrote that he had come across a woman who had run out of gas and had a flat tire at a Walmart in North Carolina. He said he had given her the last of his money.
"I don't think that's a coincidence," Coffina said.
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