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July 22 (UPI) -- The New Jersey woman behind a GoFundMe account that had claimed to be raising money for a homeless veteran has been sentenced to prison for the 2017 fraud scheme. Katelyn McClure, 32, will spend one year and one day in prison followed by three years of supervised release for her role in the scam, the Justice Department announced Thursday. McClure previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman also ordered McClure to pay $400,000 in restitution to the victims who had donated to the fraudulent fundraiser.
The saga has captured headlines since McClure and her then-boyfriend Mark D'Amico created a fundraiser on the GoFundMe website titled "Paying It Forward" to solicit donations for the benefit of a homeless veteran, 39-year-old Johnny Bobbitt.
The couple concocted a heartwarming tale that McClure was driving home from Philadelphia on Interstate 95 when she ran out of gas and Bobbitt gave her his last $20 to help her fill her tank.
The fundraiser was created to allegedly raise funds for the purported Good Samaritan to help him find housing and pay his living expenses, garnering national media attention. More than 14,000 kindhearted donors ultimately contributed about $400,000 to the fundraiser in just three weeks.
McClure and D'Amico told Bobbitt about the scam when the donations reached around $1,500 and set up a bank account in his name, depositing about $25,000 into his account, prosecutors said.
It was later revealed that the whole story was fake when Bobbitt came forward to complain that he had not received enough of the cash.
Investigators discovered that Bobbitt, the down-on-his-luck veteran in the tale, never actually helped a stranded McClure and that the couple had previously met him when he was panhandling near an underpass about a month earlier.
Bobbitt said he received $75,000, which was spent mostly on a camper and SUV, while McClure and D'Amico claimed they gave him around $200,000.
Prosecutors said D'Amico and McClure spent their share of the money on vacations, a BMW and other luxury goods.
The members of the trio were all charged separately by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey and all have pleaded guilty to various charges.
Bobbitt pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy and federal money laundering and was sentenced to five years of probation. His sentencing on federal charges is scheduled for August.
D'Amico took a plea deal and was sentenced in April to 27 months in prison on his federal charges. Like Bobbitt and McClure, he is awaiting sentencing on his state charges.
