Homeless Veteran and New Jersey Couple Arrested in "Good Samaritan" Hoax

A New Jersey couple and a homeless veteran who has garnered international attention and praise for his comforting narrative of the "Good Samaritan" have been arrested for fraud, an unexpected turnaround in a story of good deeds that hurt turned. The Burlington County Attorney's Office announced the charges Thursday.

The woman, Katelyn McClure, and her boyfriend, Mark D & # 39; Amico, last year launched a GoFundMe campaign for Johnny Bobbitt, after telling how he allegedly offered $ 20 to help McClure when his car was run out of gas.

The "Paying it Forward" fundraiser was extremely popular, raising $ 400,000 from more than 14,000 donors worldwide. But this story of well-being quickly began to turn into a conflict of money. And now, prosecutors say that everything was a scam from the beginning.

"The whole campaign was based on a lie," prosecutor Scott Coffina said in a press release. "Less than an hour after launching the GoFundMe campaign, McClure, in a text exchange with a friend, said the story that Bobbitt had helped her was" completely invented ". She did not run out of gas at the exit of Interstate I-95 and he did not spend the last 20 dollars to help. Amico, McClure and Bobbitt instead conspired to fabricate and promote a history of well-being that would compel donors to contribute to their cause. "

All three are charged with theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception.

Bobbitt continued the couple In September, McClue and D'Amico claimed that the funds had been mismanaged. They used the money as a "personal piggy bank" to finance an extravagant lifestyle that the receptionist and the carpenter could not afford. A judge of a superior court of Burlington County sworn statements ordered to find out where the money was gone.

Each party gave different accounts. Bobbitt's lawyer said he had only received $ 75,000, but the couple insisted that he had given him $ 200,000. GoFundMe collected $ 30,000 in fees. In early September, the the couple's house was raided by investigators who also seized their BMW.

GoFundMe said that they would repay the money to donors.