Kathleen McClure was not in court Friday in Mount Holly. New Jersey as she serves a one-year federal sentence in the case.
Mount Holly, N.J. — A New Jersey woman. Who pleaded guilty to helping her boyfriend spread a feel-good story. About a homeless veteran. That garnered more than $400,000 in online donations has been sentenced. To three years in prison on state theft charges.
Burlington County prosecutors said Caitlin McClure, 32. Was not present in the Mount Holly courtroom Friday. Because she is serving a one-year federal term in the case. His state prison term will run concurrently. And the former Department of Transportation. Worker will be barred from ever working as a New Jersey public employee again.
Prosecutors said McClure and her then-boyfriend, Mark D’Amico. Came up with the Good Samaritan story in November 2017. Claiming that homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr. gave McClure his last $20. When his car ran out of gas on an interstate exit ramp in Philadelphia.
A term to run concurrently with the earlier federal term.
The three did newspaper and television interviews and solicited donations to help Bobbitt. Through a GoFundMe campaign they called “Paying It Forward,” prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the campaign raised more than $400,000 from about 14,000 donors in about a month. And was the largest fraud ever committed through a crowdfunding platform at the time.
Authorities began investigating after Bobbitt sued the couple. Accusing them of not paying them. They eventually determined that McClure. And D’Amico spent all the money through March 2018. On a recreational vehicle, a BMW, and trips to casinos in Las Vegas and New Jersey.