Cops Raid Home of Couple Who Raised $400K for Homeless Vet
Police raided the home Thursday of a couple who raised $400,000 online for a homeless good Samaritan who has alleged they treated the money like a "personal piggy bank"—hauling away a new BMW on a flatbed truck. Citing "enormous public interest" in the case, county prosecutor Scott Coffina confirmed in social media postings that Mark D'Amico and Katelyn McClure are under investigation, though no charges have been filed, the AP reports.
It was the latest twist in at onetime feel-good story about Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless Marine veteran who spent his last $20 to buy gas for McClure when she became stranded on a highway in Philadelphia last year, and the couple who found 14,000 people online who were so touched by his kindness that they donated to a fund to help him start a new life.
Police armed with a search warrant left the couple's home in Florence, New Jersey, about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia, with bags and boxes of material and the BMW, according to news outlets at the scene when the raid occurred. Bobbitt has questioned where they got the money for the new car. The couple's attorney, Ernest Badway, did not return calls seeking comment on the police investigation. They have previously denied any wrongdoing.
In a lawsuit also filed against the couple by Bobbitt, he says they used the crowdfunded GoFundMe account to "fund a lifestyle they could not otherwise afford." A judge presiding over the suit ordered the couple to give sworn statements Monday on the status of all the money raised, as well as to turn over documents. Their attorney has indicated the couple will claim their constitutional right not to have to testify.
Bobbitt's attorney said earlier this week that he was told all the money is gone.
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