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$400G GoFundMe Scam: NJ Woman Serving Federal Time Gets 3-Year State Sentence $400G GoFundMe Scam: NJ Woman Serving Federal Time Gets 3-Year State Sentence
$400G GoFundMe Scam: NJ Woman Serving Federal Time Gets 3-Year State Sentence UPDATE: A woman who helped pull a notorious scam that conned 14,000 GoFundMe donors nationwide was nearly 150 miles away when a judge in South Jersey sentenced her to a plea-bargained three years in state prison on Friday, Jan. 6. Katelyn McClure, 32, of Bordentown will be released in July after completing a federal sentence at a low-security prison in Danbury, CT, for scamming well-meaning donors out of $400,000 to purportedly help a homeless veteran. At that point, the year and a day federal sentence will be deducted from her state term and a determination will be made whether she shoul…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJIT Student Fighting For His Life After Major Crash NJIT Student Fighting For His Life After Major Crash
Njit Student Fighting For His Life After Major Crash A New Jersey Institute of Technology senior is fighting for his life after a serious car crash. Vinamra Sharma has been taken off a ventilator but suffers severe brain swelling after multiple surgeries, stemming from a crash on Nov. 12, said Abhishek Sharma, who organized a GoFundMe page. Vinamra was on his way home from the university's campus in Newark when the crash occurred, knocking him unconscious the GoFundMe says. The student was rushed to Rutgers University Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Within 10 days, Vinamra had undergone four br…

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by Jon Craig
News
Federal Convict Who Hatched $400,000 GoFundMe Scam Gets NJ Prison Time, Too Federal Convict Who Hatched $400,000 GoFundMe Scam Gets NJ Prison Time, Too
Federal Convict Who Hatched $400,000 GoFundMe Scam Gets NJ Prison Time, Too UPDATE: A New Jersey man already serving federal prison time for a GoFundMe scheme that conned 14,000 donors across the country out of $400,000 to purportedly benefit a homeless veteran got a state prison sentence, as well. The plea-bargained five-year term approved by a Superior Court judge in Mount Holly on Friday will run at the same time as the 27-month federal sentence that Mark D'Amico of Trenton received in April. The difference is that there's no parole in the federal prison system, which keeps D'Amico in the medium-security United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, PA for more than…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Obituaries
Community Rallies For Clifton Family Mourning Dad, 44 Community Rallies For Clifton Family Mourning Dad, 44
Community Rallies For Clifton Family Mourning Dad, 44 Thousands of dollars have been raised afternoon for a Clifton family in mourning. Erwin De Los Reyes passed away on Dec. 30, 2019 -- leaving behind his wife, Sally, and four children, his obituary says. More than $12,000 had been raised for the 44-year-old dad's family on a GoFundMe launched by Jeffrey Pacheco as of Sunday. De Los Reyes was born in the Philippines, moving to the U.S. in 2004. He had been working as an engineer with Nokia in Murray Hill, according to his obituary. Services and a cremation were held earlier this month. Click here to donate.

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by Cecilia Levine
News
'Papi, Keep My Bike': Mom Struggles To Fulfill Native Demarest Dad's Dying Wish 'Papi, Keep My Bike': Mom Struggles To Fulfill Native Demarest Dad's Dying Wish
'Papi, Keep My Bike': Mom Struggles To Fulfill Native Demarest Dad's Dying Wish The Harley Davidson in her garage pretty much is all that her 8-year-old son, Avery, has left to remember his dad, Nicole Sealy says. It was Demarest native Sean Huster's first and only Harley, his dream bike. Huster financed it last December, just four months before he died unexpectedly on April 26, at 44 years old. His last words to Avery were: "Papi, keep my bike." The trouble is: His mom needs $15,000 to pay it off, which interest increasing each month. Sealy had raised more than $6,000 as of Wednesday through a GoFundMe campaign. But there's still a long way to go. "We were so exc…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Homeless Man Who Pretended To Defecate On Flag In Library Raises $1,000 Online For Fines Homeless Man Who Pretended To Defecate On Flag In Library Raises $1,000 Online For Fines
Homeless Man Who Pretended To Defecate On Flag In Library Raises $1,000 Online For Fines A homeless man has raised more than $1,000 online to help pay for the expected fines he'll get for taking a photo of himself with his pants down in the Hawthorne public library pretending to defecate on the American flag. A summons accuses Michael Brown of “a flagrantly lewd and offensive act” for “exposing his buttocks and squatting over an American flag,” according to the 56-year-old folk singer, who has a host of social media pages and posts videos singing with his guitar. "I'm a free expression guy," Brown wrote on Facebook. "I don't usually do deliberate provocation but …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Homeless Man Who Pretended To Defecate On Flag In Library Raises $1,000 Online For Fines Homeless Man Who Pretended To Defecate On Flag In Library Raises $1,000 Online For Fines
Homeless Man Who Pretended To Defecate On Flag In Library Raises $1,000 Online For Fines A homeless man has raised more than $1,000 online to help pay for the expected fines he'll get for taking a photo of himself with his pants down in the Hawthorne public library pretending to defecate on the American flag. A summons accuses Michael Brown of “a flagrantly lewd and offensive act” for “exposing his buttocks and squatting over an American flag,” according to the 56-year-old folk singer, who has a host of social media pages and posts videos singing with his guitar. "I'm a free expression guy," Brown wrote on Facebook. "I don't usually do deliberate provocation but …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Lifestyle
Can't Afford Your Wedding? Paramus Financial Planner Has Simple Advice Can't Afford Your Wedding? Paramus Financial Planner Has Simple Advice
Can't Afford Your Wedding? Paramus Financial Planner Has Simple Advice Love might be priceless -- but certainly not the wedding. If you can't afford to get hitched right now, Paramus financial planner Jim Shagawat has simple advice: Extend the date. Shagawat says it's more common lately to see parents help their children pay for the wedding fees, but it still ends up denting everyone's wallet, according to a New York Times article. “A wedding is a depreciating asset,” Shagawat says in the story. “You don’t want a wedding to jeopardize your retirement or long-term success.” The average cost of a wedding in North Jersey is $51,287 -- the third most expensive l…

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by Cecilia Levine