Boston Marathon Scam: ‘Victim’ Joanna Leigh Pleads Guilty

Joanna Leigh received free dermatology treatment as a victim of the Boston Marathon bombings back in 2013. Leigh claimed to have been a victim of the attacks, and was one of many who were treated for facial scarring or dermatological issues following the bombings. She also claimed to have become brain damaged, lost hearing and vision ability, and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a direct result of the bombings, based on CNN reports. According to CBS Boston, Leigh received around $900 worth of dermatology treatment, as well as many other donations and crowd-funded monetary assistance. Some suspicion as to whether Leigh deserved this money or not arose, however, and this past Friday Leigh plead guilty to being part of a scam and accepting donations when she did not need them.

CBS Boston reports that Leigh was indicted back in March, and that she apparently accepted a total of around $40,000 in assistance from government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the general public. Almost $2,000 of the money she received was even raised with the help of middle school students and their teachers.

It turns out that Leigh’s claim of a brain injury was completely false and that the skin treatments she received were to help with redness of the skin, which she already had before the bombings occurred. She had apparently already undergone the skin treatment procedure once before the attack. Other victims who truly needed the care had scarring. Joanna Leigh flat-0ut admitted to lying this past weekend, confirming the government’s suspicions that she was not actually in need of any of the generous aid that was offered to her.

Forty-one-year-old Leigh plead guilty to “five counts of larceny and one count of a false claim to a government agency,” according to CBS Boston. It is suspected that, of the $40,000 total she received, almost $20,000 came from the Massachusetts Victims of Violent Crime Compensation program and another $9,400 were from a fund that she set up herself on the GoFundMe website.

It turns out that Leigh, who did not participate in the 2013 Boston Marathon but was at a viewing party, CNN reports, was no longer in the area of impact by the time the bombs exploded. She had already left. Furthermore, Leigh didn’t actually speak out about her alleged injuries until two weeks after the day of the tragedy taking place. While most Boston bombings victims were immediately taken to the hospital, it took 14 days for Joanna Leigh to say that there was anything wrong with her at all.

Leigh is not the first or only person to try and take advantage of the aid given to victims of the bombings. The Inquisitr reported on another woman, Audrea Gause, who was arrested for posing as a victim of the bombings back in July. Like Joanna Leigh, Gause was not present when the bombs exploded. In fact, she wasn’t even in Boston on the day of the marathon.

Joanna Leigh has been sentenced to a year in the house of corrections as well as 300 hours of community service, as reported by CBS Boston. She will also have to be evaluated mentally, and must undergo any treatment that is deemed necessary by her evaluators.

Also from CBS Boston, Leigh must pay back all of the money that she collected from others, and her defense attorney Norman Zalkind released a statement saying that she will do so immediately. Leigh will be using money from her mother’s savings account to pay back the money that she scammed while claiming to have health complications caused by the Boston bombings.

[Feature image courtesy of Getty Images North America]