A New Jersey man who orchestrated a fraudulent scheme with his girlfriend and a homeless veteran to raise more than $400,000 using a fake story on GoFundMe was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday.
A judge in the Burlington County Superior Court handed down the sentencing in accordance with a plea agreement that Mark D’Amico, 43, reached with prosecutors. He had pleaded guilty in 2019 to a second-degree charge of misapplication of entrusted property.
D’Amico was also sentenced in April to 27 months in federal prison, the result of a federal probe into the scheme. His state and federal sentences will run concurrently, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
The GoFundMe scam involved a fictitious story that D’Amico, his then-girlfriend Katelyn McClure and a homeless veteran named Johnny Bobbitt fabricated to raise money on the crowdfunding website.
According to prosecutors, the trio created the scheme in November 2017, when D’Amico took a picture of McClure and Bobbitt standing near an exit ramp on an interstate near Philadelphia.
Prosecutors said they cooked up a “fairy tale narrative” about McClure running out of gas and Bobbitt giving her his last $20 to help her get home.
The story went viral and the group gave media interviews to discuss it and raise money.
The GoFundMe campaign website listed a goal of raising $10,000 for Bobbitt to pay for rent, a vehicle and living expenses.
After raising…
