Johnny Bobbitt Jr. was sentenced Friday to five years special drug court probation and ordered to enroll in a drug rehabilitation program after admitting to his role in a $402,706 GoFundMe scam that solicited funds from more than 14,000 donors across the country with a fraudulent "Good Samaritan" story.
CAMDEN, N.J. — Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless vet who conspired with a Burlington County couple to spin a feel-good story that captured hearts across the country and raised $400,000 in a GoFundMe campaign, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering Wednesday in federal court in Camden.
Bobbitt, 36, could face from six to 30 months in federal prison for his crime.
Associated Press/Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer
Thousands of people who opened up their wallets for a homeless man in a GoFundMe scam too good to be true got their money back just in time for Christmas.
Associated Press/Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer
MOUNT HOLLY, NEW JERSEY — A couple conspired with a homeless man on a story about him offering the last of his money when the woman’s car ran out of gas and then set up a fraudulent GoFundMe account to scam sympathizers, according to a report Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials converged Thursday on the New Jersey home of the couple accused of stealing money from a GoFundMe campaign set up to help Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless man whose kindness to a stranger touched hearts across the nation and beyond.
