Katelyn McClure and Mark D & # 39; Amico, a New Jersey couple, and Johnny Bobbit, a homeless, arrested in the GoFundMe scam

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, launched a GoFundMe campaign last year for Johnny Bobbitt, after recounting how he would have offered his last 20 dollars to help McClure when his car ran out of gas.

The "Paying it Forward" fundraiser was extremely popular, raising more than $ 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.

"This may sound too good to be true and unfortunately, it was," said Attorney Scott Coffina at a press conference Thursday afternoon. "The whole campaign was based on a lie."

According to Coffina, McClure sent a text message to a friend less than an hour after launching the GoFundMe campaign, claiming that the story was "completely invented". McClure did not run out of gas on a ramp to I-95 and Bobbitt did not offer his last 20 bucks to help him. In the text exchange, McClure told his friends to "shit about invented material," said Coffina.

Prosecutors allege that the trio met one month before the start of fundraising at a local casino that they frequented and conspired to collect money with a story likely to affect donors. potential. Group fundraising brought in nearly $ 403,000 during the 2017 vacation season.

"It was an irresistibly comforting tale," said Coffina.

All three are charged with theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception. If they are found guilty, they could be sentenced to ten years in prison.

McClure and D'Amico quickly spent the necessary funds to buy expensive handbags, jewelry and a sumptuous New Year's Eve trip to Las Vegas, according to a press release from the prosecutor's office. ATM information indicates that the couple has withdrawn more than $ 85,000 in the immediate vicinity of the Atlantic City, Bensalem, Philadelphia and Las Vegas casinos. In March 2018, there remained less than 10,000 USD.

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.

Coffina said at the press conference that this did not prevent the couple from signing a book contract about their alleged act of charity. The title of this book was "No Good Deed".

Each party gave different accounts on what happened to the money. 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.