A New Jersey man who conspired together with his then-girlfriend to prepare dinner up a feel-good story a few useful homeless man after which used the lie to boost a whole bunch of hundreds of dollars in donations on-line was sentenced in federal courtroom Friday to greater than two years in jail.
Mark D'Amico will even must serve three years probation as soon as he completes his 27-month time period. He additionally should pay restitution and bear playing, drug and psychological well being counseling.
Earlier than being sentenced, D'Amico instructed U.S. District Decide Noel Hillman that he was a modified man, dedicated to his household.
"The person who did the issues that led us right here now not exists," D'Amico stated.
He had pleaded responsible earlier than Hillman in Camden in November to 1 depend of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. An indictment unsealed in January 2020 charged D'Amico with a complete of 16 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and cash laundering.
He had already pleaded responsible to costs in state courtroom final 12 months. His former girlfriend, Katelyn McClure, and homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt Jr. beforehand pleaded responsible to state and federal costs. Bobbitt was sentenced to 5 years' probation on state costs in 2019. Each are scheduled to be sentenced on the federal costs this 12 months.
The trio made up a narrative in late 2017 about Bobbitt giving $20 to assist McClure when her automobile ran out of fuel in Philadelphia, in keeping with prosecutors. D'Amico and McClure solicited donations by GoFundMe, purportedly to assist Bobbitt, and performed newspaper and tv interviews. Investigators stated D'Amico was the plot's ringleader.
They finally raised greater than $400,000 in donations over a few month, in keeping with investigators, who stated nearly no a part of the story was true. The group had met close to a Philadelphia on line casino in October 2017 shortly earlier than they instructed their story, prosecutors stated.
Authorities started investigating after Bobbitt sued the couple, accusing them of not giving him the cash. The federal prison criticism alleged all the cash raised within the marketing campaign was spent by March 2018, with massive chunks spent by McClure and D'Amico on a leisure automobile, a BMW and journeys to casinos in Las Vegas and New Jersey.