N.H. woman indicted after she allegedly kept over $5K donated online to cover mother’s medical expenses
Brittany Bonvie, 29, of Londonderry, was indicted by a grand jury last month.
A 29-year-old New Hampshire woman was indicted after she allegedly kept over $5,000 collected through an online fundraiser she launched to help cover her mother’s medical costs.
A Rockingham County grand jury indicted Brittany Bonvie, of Londonderry, last month, on a felony charge of theft by misapplication of property, The New Hampshire Union Leader reports.
Bonvie allegedly started and managed a GoFundMe campaign to help her mother, who had suffered a brain aneurysm a month earlier, according to the newspaper.
According to the indictment, the alleged theft happened between May 24 and June 1, 2017, during which Bonvie “kept the money as her own without delivering it,” the Union Leader reports.
“It’s unfortunate that there can be people out there who take advantage of the generosity of those willing to give,” Deputy County Attorney Jennifer Haggar said, according to the newspaper. “It’s something that we see happening more and more often.”
Bonvie’s mother, Celia DeFeudis Bonvie, a Cambridge native turned New Hampshire resident, suffered a brain aneurysm on March 12, 2017, while in Naples, Florida, Wicked Local Cambridge reported in April that year.
Brittany Bonvie launched the campaign with a goal to raise $50,000 to pay for a medical helicopter flight to Boston, which health insurance would not cover, according to Wicked Local.
The effort raised just over $5,000, according to Haggar.
According to the GoFundMe website, fraudulent campaigns are rare.
“GoFundMe is dedicated to empowering people to help people, and an overwhelming majority of campaigns on our platform are safe and legitimate,” the website says. “Fraudulent campaigns make up less than one tenth of one percent of all campaigns.”
Emily Jessep, an attorney representing Brittany Bonvie, declined to comment last week, according to the Union Leader.
Brittany Bonvie has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge in Derry Circuit Court, the newspaper reports. She waived her arraignment on the felony charge Friday.
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