Johnny Bobbitt's "Paying it Forward" GoFundMe

Overview

Johnny Bobbitt's "Paying it Forward" GoFundMe refers to a crowdfunding campaign created by New Jersey residents Kate McClure and Mark D'Amico to collect donations for homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt.

Background

On November 10th, 2017, a GoFundMe^[1] page titled "Paying it Forward" was created, which claimed that Bobbitt gave McClure his last $20 to help her buy gas to get home and she wanted to help him raise money in return (shown below). In the coming months, 14,000 people donated upwards of $400,000 to the campaign.

Developments

Media Appearances

On November 26th, 2017, McClure and Bobbitt were interviewed on ABC News, where they discussed the viral campaign (shown below).

Fraud Allegations

On August 23rd, 2018, the Philadelphia Inquirer^[2] reported that Bobbitt accused the couple of withholding money from the campaign after receiving only $75,000 to purchase a trailer, an SUV and gifts. Additionally, the article reported that Bobbitt was homeless again and "spends his days scrambling for money and drugs."

On August 27th, McClure and D'Amico were interviewed on the talk show Today, during which they denied any wrongdoing and claimed that they did not give him the entire sum of money due to his drug addiction.

Legal Battle

On August 30th, 2018, a Burlington County judge ordered D'Amico and McClure to hand over the remaining funds from the campaign to Bobbitt's legal counsel.^[3] On August 31st, the local Philadelphia news station 6 ABC aired a segment on the legal battle, in which Bobbitt speculated that the couple spent the money on a BMW and several lavish vacations (shown below). On September 4th, Bobbit's lawyer Chris Fallon told the Philadelphia Inquirer that McClure and D'Amico's lawyers revealed that the remaining funds were entirely gone.^[4]

On September 6th, police raided the couple's home and towed a BMW car parked in the driveway. That day, Twitter user @KScott6abc tweeted a video of D'Amico swinging a golf club in his yard while authorities were searching his home (shown below).

Arrests

On November 14th, 2018, McClure and D'Amico were arrested on charges of conspiracy and theft by deception for orchestrating the GoFundMe as a scam with Bobbitt. The same day, Bobbitt was arrested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on charges of being a fugitive from justice. He was subsequently transferred to Burlington County, New Jersey for the GoFundMe scam charges. That evening, the news station NBC Philadelphia reported about a complaint alleging that Bobbitt, McClure and D'Amico all conspired together to make the false story in order to launch the crowdfunding campaign. That day, ABC News aired a segment about the arrests (shown below).

Search Interest

External References