Mark D’Amico and his girlfriend said they wanted to reward a homeless man who spent his last $20 helping her after she ran out of gas on a highway in Philadelphia in November 2017. rent, a reliable vehicle and some living expenses for the husband.
The effort received widespread attention, raising more than $400,000 from thousands of donors. But the story was made up, state and federal authorities said.
On Friday, Mr. D’Amico, 43, was sentenced to five years in the New Jersey state prison for his role in the fraud, the Burlington County prosecutor’s office said. D’Amico, of Florence, NJ, pleaded guilty to mishandling of entrusted property in December 2019.
“People really wanted to believe it was true,” says prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw, said in a statement. “But it was all a lie, and it was illegal. Our office is excited to bring justice to the more than 14,000 kind-hearted people who thought they were helping someone who was living in a desperate situation.”
Mark G. Davis, an attorney on D’Amico’s list, did not immediately answer phone and email messages on Sunday.
Mr. D’Amico’s then-girlfriend, Katelyn McClure, of Bordentown, NJ, and the homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt of Philadelphia, were also charged in 2018, prosecutors said.
Ms. McClure pleaded guilty to theft by fraud in April 2019 in exchange for a four-year prison term, prosecutors said. She will be sentenced in the state’s Superior Court on September 9.
Mr. Bobbitt pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft through fraud in March 2019 and was admitted to a program that provides treatment rather than incarceration for people with substance abuse problems, prosecutors said. They added that he could face five years in state prison if he fails to meet the program’s requirements, which include frequent drug testing.
Prosecutors have put the three cases on hold while federal prosecutors in New Jersey pursued their own charges, authorities said.
D’Amico was sentenced to 27 months in prison in April; his state and federal sentences are running concurrently. Ms. McClure was sentenced to a year in prison by federal court last month, authorities said. Mr. Bobbitt will be sentenced in federal court on August 23.
A federal judge ordered Mr. D’Amico and Ms. McClure to reimburse GoFundMe in full, prosecutors said. The company did not immediately return an email on Sunday, but said in November 2018 that it would refund all donations for Mr Bobbitt, calling the arrangement “extremely rare” and “unacceptable”.
With GoFundMe, anyone can suggest a charity worth donating. Thousands of causes compete for attention, so users often rely on emotional appeals to stand out. In November 2017, the couple’s campaign, titled “Paying It Forward,” took off quickly.
Federal prosecutors said the couple spent most of the money on gambling, vacations, a BMW vehicle, a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon and Louis Vuitton handbags. Authorities said the couple opened a bank account for Mr. Bobbitt in December 2017 and deposited only $25,000; the couple later said they wanted to prevent him from spending everything at once.
mr. bobbitt sued the couple in 2018, and said he ended up receiving only $75,000, including the value of an RV he had temporarily lived in, and that they spent the rest. GoFundMe announced in 2018 that it would help cover the costs of making sure Mr. Bobbitt got all the money he owed.
The plan soon fell apart. Federal authorities read more than 60,000 text messages from Ms. McClure and Mr. D’Amico, including one Ms. McClure sent to a friend an hour after the GoFundMe campaign began.
“Okay, wait a minute, the gas part is all made up, but the guy isn’t,” Ms. McClure said in the message. “I had to come up with something to make people feel bad.”