September 04, 2018
Kate McClure/GoFundMe
Kate McClure and Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless man who helped her after she got stranded on I-95 in Philadelphia. McClure started a crowdfunding effort that raised more than $400,000 to help the veteran get back on his feet. But now much of the money is reporting missing.
More than $400,000 raised by a South Jersey couple for a homeless man is gone, according to the man’s lawyer.
Christopher Fallon, a Philadelphia attorney representing the homeless man, Johnny Bobbit Jr., told the Courier-Post newspaper that he learned Tuesday morning during a phone call with a state judge and the defense lawyer that the money, collected via online donations from more than 14,000 people to help Bobbitt, is no more.
The story took off last November, when Bobbitt helped Burlington County resident Kate McClure after her car ran out of gas on I-95 in Philadelphia.
Last week, the couple was ordered to turn over what money remained to their defense lawyer, which was supposed to be placed in a trust fund while Bobbitt and the couple, McClure and her boyfriend Mark D’Amico, face off in court.
The couple was accused of taking thousands of dollars for their own expenses, including a new BMW and lavish trips they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford.
The couple denied the accusations on an NBC News segment last week, saying Bobbitt had returned to the drug habit that landed him on the street in the first place.
Fallon told the Courier-Post on Tuesday that he was “devastated” to learn the money was gone, and he was taking steps to find out where it went.
Fallon did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Ernest Badway, the lawyer representing McClure and D’Amico, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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