A 26-year-old New York woman has been arrested for allegedly fradulently collecting nearly half a million dollars from One Fund Boston, the fund set up for Boston Marathon bombing victims, authorities said today.
Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office is reviewing claims submitted to One Fund Boston. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)
Andrea Gause claimed she had suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the terror attack on April 15. But investigators allegedly found she was not a victim and had provided false documentation that she had been admitted to a Boston hospital, the attorney general’s office said.
Gause was arrested this afternoon by Massachusetts State Police and the Troy, N.Y., police on a fugitive warrant near her home in Troy, the office said. Gause faces a charge of larceny over $250.
“We allege that this defendant defrauded The One Fund Boston of $480,000,†Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a statement. “By doing this, she was stealing money from the real victims of the Marathon bombing, and from the people who gave so generously to help them.â€
It was the second arrest made in connection with alleged fraud aimed at the One Fund. Earlier this month, Branden Mattier, 22, was charged with attempting to bilk the fund of more than $2 million.
Coakley’s office said it was actively reviewing all the claims submitted to, and paid by, the One Fund.
Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured in the bombings.
