The scheme unfolded when 28‑year‑old Katelyn McClure and her boyfriend Mark D'Amico posted a GoFundMe titled “Paying It Forward” on November 10, 2017, claiming a homeless veteran had saved her by buying him a can of petrol.
McClure’s fabricated narrative sparked media attention; within an hour, she texted a friend saying, “The gas story was completely made up.” That admission was later cited by Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina in his press briefing.
Federal investigators traced the $400,000 that flowed into a joint account controlled by McClure and D'Amico. Within three months, the couple spent the money on a BMW, designer handbags, luxury holiday trips, and a $120,000 gambling loss at Las Vegas and Philadelphia casinos.
When veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr. hired counsel in December 2017, he sued the pair for their share of the donations. The civil case prompted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey to launch a criminal probe that culminated in wire‑fraud and money‑laundering charges.
In February 2024, U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle sentenced McClure to 30 months of supervised release, D'Amico to two years in federal prison, and Bobbitt to a 12‑month term after his guilty plea. The court ordered restitution to Bobbitt for the $25,000 he was denied.
GoFundMe, led by spokesperson Bobby Whithorne, reimbursed every of the 14,000 donors using its own funds, covering the full $400,000 plus processing fees. The platform said it will tighten fraud detection while the trio awaits appeal hearings scheduled for March 2027.