An Oil City woman is facing charges for setting up a GoFundMe account for a her daughter who lost everything in a house fire in Franklin and then having the money deposited in her own account.
Franklin police said in a criminal complaint that on March 3, a woman came to the Franklin police station and told police that in October 2022 a fire had destroyed her home at 169 Meadville Pike.
The woman said her mother, Misty Goodman, 44, started a GoFundMe a few days later, the complaint said.
The woman did her own research about GoFundMe and found out that as the beneficiary, she should be able to withdraw the funds herself but she had never received any emails from GoFundMe, the complaint said.
The woman told police she got on one of her daughter’s old play phones Goodman had given her and found that the phone was still connected to Goodman’s email, the complaint said.
The officer noted in the complaint that he found the GoFundMe page had received 41 donations totaling $3,200, the complaint said.
The officer also obtained a search warrant for that GoFundMe account and among the records was an online conversation Goodman had via chat with GoFundMe on Dec. 20, 2022, to change the account beneficiary from her daughter’s name to her name and adding her personal bank account information to complete money transfers to her own bank account, the complaint said.
The officer also noted that the total funds available after processing fees, $3,094, was withdrawn in full via three bank transfers to Goodman, according to the complaint.
Goodman has been charged with felony counts of theft by failure to make required deposit of funds and theft by deception-false impression.
She was arraigned Tuesday, and her preliminary hearing is scheduled April 12 in Venango County Central Court.
