The GoFakeMe 3: NJ Couple And Homeless PA Man Who Hoodwinked Nation To Face Charges

PHILADELPHIA, PA. (THECOUNT) — Mark D’Amico, Kate McClure and Johnny Bobbitt will soon face charges including conspiracy and theft by deception, according to the source.

Burlington County, New Jersey, Prosecutor Scott Caffina alleged the three conspired with one another to make up a story and raise more from online donors. The GoFundMe campaign garnered national headlines and news segments, eventually raising more than $400,000.

(LAST UPDATE:) Investigators are executing a search warrant at the home of the New Jersey couple who have been accused of defrauding a homeless Philadelphia man of $400,000 from a GoFundMe account.

The Action Cam on the scene just after 8 a.m. Thursday showed investigators searching a BMW in the driveway before it was loaded onto a truck outside the Burlington County home of Kate McClure and Mark D’Amico. source

The attorney for Philadelphia homeless man John Bobbitt, whose act of kindness led to a $400,000 GoFundMe fundraiser to presumably help him, said all of the cash raised in his client’s name is gone.

Attorney Chris Fallon said he found this out during a conference call with the attorney for Kate McClure and Mark D’Amico on Tuesday morning. source

Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless man who gained worldwide attention when he used his last $20 to fill up the gas tank of stranded motorist Kate McClure in November 2017, is now claiming McClure is withholding a large portion of the $400,000 GoFundMe cash raised in his honor.

On Thursday, a judge ordered the money raised on GoFundMe for Bobbitt be taken out of the personal accounts of D’Amico and McClure and be placed in the hands of Bobbitt’s attorneys. She also ordered a full accounting of the money.

“We don’t know where it went, but we will find out,” said attorney Chris Fallon. “And we will know how much money remains after the money is transferred from the defendants to our escrow account.”

Bobbitt estimates he received about $75,000 dollars, including a camper and pickup truck the couple bought in their names, not his, and which were eventually sold.

“I had to ask them for everything in the beginning. It was like a joke, they were like my parents, but the joke starts not being funny,” he said. source

In a nationally televised interview this week, the couple says they worried Bobbitt would spend the money on drugs and their attorney disputed the $75,000 figure in court Thursday.

“Mr. Bobbitt received cash and goods and services of over 200 thousand dollars,” said defense attorney Ernest Badway.

(ORIGINAL STORY) Bobbitt, a homeless veteran in Philadelphia, made headlines last year after he used his last $20 to fill up a gas tank for a stranded motorist, is now saying he is back to panhandling and using drugs, because he was given no access to the money raised on his behalf.

McClure and her boyfriend Mark D’Amico started a GoFundMe campaign in return, promising that Bobbitt would have a home.

Bobbitt told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he can’t use the $200,000 left out of the $400,000 that donors raised on GoFundMe, and he no longer has a camper or a car.

McClure said the couple did all they could to help Bobbitt.

In an interview with the Inquirer last week, D’Amico said he controls the money and will start dispensing it when Bobbitt gets a job and stops using drugs.

“Giving him all that money, it’s never going to happen. I’ll burn it in front of him,” he said, adding that giving an “addict” the money would be like “giving him a loaded gun.”source

Bobby admits that that couple once gave him $25,000 and he gave it relatives, friends, and spent some on drugs. He questions the couple’s motives and fears they may have squandered the money.

“I think it might have been good intentions in the beginning, but with that amount of money, I think it became greed.” Bobbitt said.

GoFundMe is investigating whether the money was mismanaged, and said it will work to ensure Bobbitt “receives the help he deserves and that the donors’ intentions are honored.”