The lady who infamously created a phony viral sob story a couple of homeless vet giving her the final $20 he had goes to endure some very actual penalties.
Katelyn McLure was ordered to serve one 12 months in jail after which three years of supervised launch at her sentencing listening to in a New Jersey courtroom on Thursday. She should additionally pay restitution for the a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} she obtained utilizing the GoFundMe fundraiser, which first went viral again in 2017.
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As Perezcious readers will recall, we’ve coated the unbelievable story of this grifter, her boyfriend, and the homeless man prior to now. Katelyn and her associate, Mark D’Amico, first hatched the plot 5 years in the past. In a video, they claimed a homeless man named Johnny Bobbitt had given them his final $20 invoice after Katelyn ran out of fuel in the midst of the night time.
What actually occurred, as prosecutors later found, is that the three of them had really met a month earlier than that at a on line casino within the Philadelphia space. Bobbitt was recognized to hold round exterior the on line casino. Based on prosecutors, the three of them received collectively and devised a plan to create a viral sob story about Bobbitt being down on his luck.
After posting the made-up story concerning the $20 invoice for gasoline on the fundraising web site in 2018, donations poured in. Greater than 14,000 folks donated virtually $400,000 to the GoFundMe web page made by the couple in Bobbitt’s title. The scheme might have gone off with out a hitch, however greed received in between the co-conspirators. Bobbitt sued the couple in 2018, claiming they solely shared a part of about $75,000 with him. As a substitute, he alleged, they blew the remainder of the money on luxurious objects, new automobiles, on line casino journeys, and issues for themselves.
At a press convention on the matter again in 2018, prosecutors in Burlington County, New Jersey slammed the scheme, saying:
“The paying it ahead story that drove this fundraiser may appear too good to be true. Sadly it was. Your complete marketing campaign was predicated on a lie. [McLure] didn’t run out of fuel at an I-95 off ramp and he didn’t spend his final $20 to assist her. D’Amico, McClure and Bobbitt conspired to go off a pretend, really feel good story that might compel donors to contribute to their trigger and it labored in a really huge means however it was fictitious and unlawful and there are penalties.”
The duo went on Megyn Kelly At present to recount their supposed “good deed” after it occurred. D’Amico even pitched a e-book deal to revenue additional off the story. That by no means got here to fruition, and after Bobbitt sued the couple concerning the sketchy funds, legal professionals started wanting deeper into the state of affairs.
After uncovering financial institution statements, prosecutors decided that there was nothing left from the GoFundMe after McLure and D’Amico went by way of a whirlwind of spending. At the very least $9,000 was spent on paying again money owed to members of the family. One other $20,000 was spent on bank cards in casinos. The couple bought Louis Vuitton purses, a brand new BMW, and so they took a number of journeys with the money, together with one to Las Vegas. Prosecutors had been shocked to seek out they spent $89,000 price of money withdrawals “in or close to casinos.” Jeez…
D’Amico — allegedly the mastermind behind the scheme — has already been handled within the authorized realm. In 2019, he accepted a plea deal in Burlington County on fraud costs within the scheme. He was sentenced in April to 27 months in jail.
As for his function within the scheme, Bobbitt was given 5 years probation and ordered to enter a drug rehabilitation program. Subsequent month, all three shall be taken again to courtroom to face state costs, too.
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Wow! Justice served. We guess? There’s nonetheless the harm a lie like this does to the world.
Manner again throughout his preliminary 2018 press convention concerning the case, Burlington County lead prosecutor Scott Coffina requested the general public to not be skeptical about each on-line fundraiser:
“This kind of case can harm the psyche of the general public. It may make beneficiant folks skeptical and somewhat extra hesitant to assist another person in want. I urge you to not let this occur.”
Which will have been true on the time (and now), however man… it’s powerful to nonetheless see solely the nice like that after seeing this case play out.
Right here is extra on the sentencing (under):
Reactions, Perezcious readers??
[Image via CBS Philly/YouTube]
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