Mark D’Amico, the man from New Jersey who plotted a story with two other people that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through GoFundMe donations, was sentenced in federal court on Friday, April 1 to 27 months in prison and three years of probation once his sentence is served.
According to prosecutors, the trio made up a tale in late 2017 about Johnny Bobbitt Jr., a homeless veteran, giving Katelyn McClure, a D’Amico’s then-girlfriend, $20 when her car ran out of gas in Philly. D’Amico and McClure collected funds through GoFundMe to allegedly assist Bobbitt. Investigators said D’Amico was the plot’s ringleader.
They eventually received more than $400,000 in donations in about a month, despite the fact that nearly no portion of the story was accurate, investigators said.
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Authorities began looking into the case after Bobbitt sued the couple, accusing them of not giving him the money collected.
Instead, McClure and D’Amico spent the majority of the money raised by March 2018, including considerable sums on a recreational vehicle, a BMW, and trips to casinos in Las Vegas and New Jersey.
McClure and Bobbitt pleaded guilty to state and federal counts in the past. In 2019, Bobbitt received a five-year probation sentence on state offenses. Both are due to be sentenced this year on federal charges.
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