The woman accused of carrying out a $400,000 scam with her boyfriend and a homeless man released audio recordings in which she claims proves she is innocent.
Katelyn McClure, 28, her now ex-boyfriend Mark D’Amico, 39, and homeless man Johnny Bobbitt, 34, are facing criminal charges of second-degree theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception for allegedly making up a fake story to defraud GoFundMe users of their money.
McClure, through her attorney, claims that she was duped and has secret recordings which prove her innocence. The audio was reportedly recorded sometime after Bobbitt sued McClure and D’Amico in August, claiming that they were not giving him his fair share of the money.
“You started the whole f**king thing, you did everything. I had no part in any of this and I’m the one f**king taking the fall,” McClure could be heard in the recording, according to Good Morning America.
“You don’t go to jail for lying on TV, you dumb b***h,” D’Amico reportedly responded.
“You heard what he said, if this turns into a criminal thing,” McClure responds before D’Amico repeated the phrase, “You don’t go to jail for lying on TV.”
“But who made me lie on TV?” McClure asked, to which D’Amico allegedly replied, “Who cares?”
At another point in the recording, D’Amico claims McClure is anything but innocent.
“How much did you spend in Cali? $2,500? [unintelligible] $3,700? So just right there is $40,000, now you wanna talk about everything else? You act like you didn’t spend a dollar,” D’Amico reportedly said.
“I never said that I didn’t spend a dollar,” McClure responded.
McClure and D’Amico surrendered themselves to authorities on Wednesday, and have been released on bail. Prosecutors say they each face five to ten years in prison if convicted. They are due back in court on December 24.
The Philadelphia Police Department arrested Bobbitt Wednesday night and charged him with being a fugitive from justice. He remains in custody on $50,000 bond and probation retainers. Authorities say they expect to extradite Bobbitt to Burlington County, New Jersey, to face additional charges related to the scam.
GoFundMe released a statement, saying that all the donors to the fundraiser would have their money refunded to them and that the organization was working with law enforcement to recover the money.
“While this type of behavior by an individual is extremely rare, it’s unacceptable and clearly it has consequences. Committing fraud, whether it takes place on or offline is against the law. We are fully cooperating and assisting law enforcement officials to recover every dollar withdrawn by Ms. McClure and Mr. D’Amico,” GoFundMe said in a statement.
The seemingly heartwarming tale began when McClure and D’Amico started a GoFundMe campaign for $10,000 to help Bobbitt get through the winter as a thank you for giving them his last $20 to buy gasoline when McClure’s car ran out of gas in a rough Philadelphia neighborhood.
But the tale did not have such a happy ending after plans to disperse the money went downhill and Bobbitt sued the couple. The homeless man, through his attorney, claimed the couple mismanaged the money by pocketing the funds meant for him.