Woman Claims to be Boston Bombings Victim, Reaps Over $38,000 in Fraudulent Funds: Indictment

Photo: WHDH/Service Dog Project

A Jamaica Plain, Mass. woman who claimed to be a Boston Marathon bombing victim has been indicted for charges of theft by false pretense.

The Suffolk County Grand Jury on March 10 returned indictments charging 41-year-old Joanna Leigh with five counts of larceny over $250 by false pretense and one count of making a false claim to a government agency.

She received almost $40,000 in fraudulently obtained benefits, according to court records.

Leigh was given $8,000 from the One Fund, which was intended to provide financial benefits to those injured in the bombings.

During a ceremony at a Mattapan middle school, children and faculty presented Leigh with more than $1,700, which was raised by the students and staff specifically for Leigh.

Leigh also received $9,000 from an online fundraiser she appears to have created.

Evidence suggests that she received free dermatology services through a practice that offered treatment at no cost to bombing victims. Leigh sought and received facial redness treatment through the service– a condition for which she’d been treated prior to the bombings.

Investigators also said Leigh was the beneficiary of more than $18,000 in benefits from the state’s Victims of Violent Crime Compensation fund.

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