Maine woman accused of defrauding Boston Marathon blast victims’ fund

A Portland, Maine, woman was arrested Wednesday for filing false claims with a charity that helps victims of the Boston Marathon bombings pay for injuries sustained in the 2013 terror attacks, prosecutors said.

Amey Molloy, 49, was not injured in in the attacks, but she received $8,000 from One Fund Boston in 2013 and was attempting to collect another $12,500 from the charity for unrelated foot and leg injuries before she was arrested, according to a statement from the Massachusetts attorney general’s office.

“She allegedly stole money from the thousands of people who had so generously donated to help the real victims of the marathon bombing,” Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley said in the statement.

In June 2013, Molloy filed a claim asking for money to help pay for a foot surgery she underwent after suffering injuries in the bombing, including pages of “purported medical records,” prosecutors said. She was paid $8,000 for that claim.

In July 2014, one month after the fund announced it would make another round of payouts to victims, Molloy allegedly filed a second claim to help with a hip surgery she underwent in Maine in 2013.

The attorney general’s office investigation allegedly revealed that some of the medical records filed in the claims were not authentic, and prosecutors contend Molloy was not injured in the bombing.

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said a criminal complaint against Molloy was not immediately available, and declined to offer additional comment.

It was not clear if the woman had ever been to Boston. She is being held at the Cumberland County Jail in Maine.

Massachusetts prosecutors have been active about combating fraudulent claims filed with the fund, which was started by former Gov. Deval Patrick and former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino days after the attacks.

A New York woman and two brothers from Boston were separately convicted of attempting to defraud the fund for large sums on money in 2014.

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