Burlington County NJ GoFundMe Scammer Sentenced to Prison Time

What started out as a feel-good story quickly turned into a criminal investigation, one that's now sending a South Jersey woman to prison.

When we first heard about Kate McClure and her boyfriend Mark D’Amico in late 2017, the couple had reportedly connected with a homeless man named Johnny Bobbitt at a gas station in Philadelphia near where McClure's car allegedly ran out of gas. Bobbitt supposedly gave McClure the last $20 he had to fill her tank and help her get home, People.com reported.

McClure and D'Amico then set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to help Bobbitt get back on his feet, and pay back Bobbitt's good deed.

But it was all a scam.

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We first got wind of something fraudulent when the Bordentown couple was accused of spending more than $400,000 generated by the GoFundMe page on elaborate vacations and cars. But the real motivation for all three was revealed that they made up the whole scenario for profit, and criminal charges quickly followed, including theft by deception, and conspiracy for defrauding more than 14,000 donors.

Now, Kate McClure will pay for her role in the scam during a year of federal prison time. She reportedly asked the judge overseeing her sentencing for leniency, 6abc.com reports, apologizing to the court stating, "I had every intention of helping Johnny and I never had any intentions of letting it get as far as it did."

But the judge was clearly unmoved, giving McClure 12 months plus one day and then three years of supervised release. She's also been ordered to pay restitution. McClure reportedly cried upon hearing the judge's decision.

In case you were wondering, her boyfriend Mark D'Amico learned his fate earlier this year, receiving more than two years behind bars.

This story infuriated me and so many others, especially when there are generous people in South Jersey ACTUALLY trying to help the less fortunate. I still find this couple totally despicable, attention-seeking, greedy opportunists.