A homeless man who helped out a woman with his last $20, and gained national fame for it, has spoken out just one day after a judge ordered the woman and her husband to turn over what’s left of the money they raised in his name.
“I wish it didn’t come to this,” Johnny Bobbitt told ABC News affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia. “I hate that it came to this.”
Bobbitt, a 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran who says he was living on the streets of Philadelphia, gave Kate McClure, 28, the last of the cash he had panhandled that day after she ran out of gas, she wrote on a GoFundMe page that she created on Nov. 10 last year.
The page ended up raising more than $400,000, according to the GoFundMe page.
With the money, McClure and her husband, Mark D’Amico, 39, bought Bobbitt a camper and parked it on land belonging to McClure’s family, according to the Associated Press. He also received $25,000, which he spent in less than two weeks, the AP reported.
In June, Bobbitt says he ended up back on the streets after D’Amico told him he had to leave the property, the AP reported.
Bobbitt filed a lawsuit against D’Amico and McClure alleging that the couple had used the funds like their own “personal piggy bank to fund a lifestyle that they could not otherwise afford,” his attorneys wrote.
The couple denies those claims, saying they’re wary of giving Bobbitt large sums because they fear he will buy drugs, according to the Associated Press.
Bobbitt said they had complete control of the funds.
“I had to ask them for everything in the beginning,” Bobbitt said. “It was like a joke, they were like my parents, but the joke starts not being funny.”
“I always felt like I was in a weird situation. I didn’t want to be pressuring [anyone] to get a lawyer or do anything because I didn’t want to seem ungrateful,” he added.
A New Jersey judge issued an order Thursday for the couple to transfer the money into an escrow account by the end of the day on Friday as well as hire a forensic accountant who could review the financial records within 10 days.
The couple’s attorney, Ernest Badway, argued in court that the couple has spent much more on Bobbitt. McClure and D’Amico have used about $200,000, which include the trailer, truck and giving Bobbitt cash for his everyday necessities, Badway said, citing records he has seen.
They are currently preparing the accounting that will “show where the money went,” Badway said.
Culled from ABC News
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
