“One Fund” Scammer Receives Jail Time

CNN reports that a woman who attempted to defraud One Fund Boston, the charitable nonprofit created to aid victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, pleaded guilty Tuesday to collecting a fraudulent $480,000 claim filed with the charity.  Audrea Gause, a New Yorker, reportedly was sentenced to two and a half to three years in prison.  The story states that Gause submitted forged medical records in June 2013 indicating that she had suffered injuries in the bombings, but an investigation found that she was not a patient at Boston Medical Center on the day of the bombings or at Albany Medical Center at the times that she had previously claimed.  The money has been secured and will be returned to the charity. 

According to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, two brothers are also awaiting trial for attempting to defraud the One Fund in a separate scam.

JRB