A Maine woman was arrested and charged with defrauding One Fund Boston, according to Attorney General Martha Coakley.
Read the full release from Attorney General Coakley’s office:
Woman Allegedly Collected $8,000 and Attempted to Collect Additional $12,500; Claimed to Have Undergone Foot and Hip Operations Due to Boston Marathon Bombing Injury
PORTLAND, Maine – A Maine woman has been arrested and charged with collecting a fraudulent $8,000 claim from The One Fund Boston and attempting to collect another $12,500, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today. The woman claimed she received foot and hip surgery as a result of an injury she sustained at the Boston Marathon bombing.
Amey S. Molloy, age 49, of Portland, Maine, was arrested in Portland this morning on a Massachusetts fugitive warrant. She was charged with Larceny over $250 and Attempted Larceny.
“We allege that this defendant defrauded The One Fund Boston by falsely claiming she had been injured at the Boston Marathon bombing,” AG Coakley said. “She allegedly stole money from the thousands of people who had so generously donated to help the real victims of the Marathon bombing.”
The AG’s Office began an investigation in August 2014 after the matter was referred by The One Fund Boston when they became suspicious of a second claim filed by Molloy in July 2014.
That investigation revealed that in June 2013, One Fund officials received a detailed and notarized claim from Molloy, which included several pages of purported medical records, indicating that she had undergone a surgical operation in Portland on her foot due to an injury she sustained during the Boston Marathon bombings. Based on the information contained in her claim and the purported medical records attached to it, The One Fund issued a payment of $8,000 to Molloy in July 2013.
In June 2014, The One Fund announced that it would make a second round of distributions to victims with additional funds that were donated after the first distribution. In July 2014, One Fund officials received a second claim for compensation from Molloy, this one with several pages of purported medical records indicating she underwent hip surgery in Maine in August 2013 as a result of the foot injury she sustained at the bombings. Molloy would have received an additional $12,500 if her claim had been processed.
Subsequent investigation revealed that portions of the medical records attached to Molloy’s first and second claims were not authentic, and that the she was not treated for any bombing-related injuries as indicated in the claims she prepared and submitted.
These charges are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
In May 2014, a New York woman, Audrea Gause, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two-and-a-half to three years in state prison in connection with collecting a fraudulent $480,000 claim from The One Fund.
In June 2014, a pair of brothers from Boston were each sentenced to three years in state prison for attempting to defraud The One Fund of $2.195 million by submitting a false claim on behalf of their dead aunt.
This matter is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Gina Masotta of the AG’s Public Integrity Division, with assistance from investigators Sallyann Nelligan and Jaclyn Morrill, Massachusetts State Police assigned to the AG’s Office and the AG’s Digital Evidence Lab. The Portland Police Department also assisted. The One Fund Boston cooperated throughout the investigation.