Advertisement

New York woman arraigned in One Fund Boston scam

Audrea Gause, 26, of Troy, N.Y., stands during her arraignment Friday, Aug. 2, 2013, in Boston Municipal Court. Gause was charged with filing a false claim for nearly $500,000 with The One Fund Boston, set up to aid Boston Marathon bombing victims.
(Ted Fitzgerald / Associated Press)
Share via

A New York woman accused of fraudulently collecting $480,000 from a fund for Boston Marathon bombing victims was arraigned in a Boston municipal court, Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley’s office said in a statement .

Audrea Gause, who appeared in court Friday, was arrested July 19 in her hometown, Troy, N.Y., on a Massachusetts fugitive warrant.

The 26-year-old Gause is charged with larceny over $250. She pleaded not guilty, and Judge Thomas C. Horgan set her bail at $200,000, the statement said.

Advertisement

Gause collected nearly half a million dollars from The One Fund Boston after claiming that she had suffered a traumatic brain injury in the Boston Marathon bombing. She filed a detailed and notarized claim that included purported medical records from Boston Medical Center and Albany Medical Center.

But after receiving a tip that Gause may not have been in Boston during the Marathon bombing in April, the attorney general’s office opened an investigation. Prosecutors discovered that Gause had not been a patient at either of the hospitals at which she claimed to have been treated.

The statement Friday said investigators took steps to return the money to The One Fund.

Advertisement

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured in the bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15.

Gause is the second person arrested by the attorney general’s office for fraud in connection with claims to The One Fund. In July, a Boston man was arrested on suspicion of submitting a $2-million fraudulent claim on behalf of his aunt.

Gause is due back in court Sept. 4 for a pretrial hearing.

ALSO:

Advertisement

National monuments nearly clean of green paint vandalism

Bulger foe poisoned with cyanide, Massachusetts authorities say

Ariel Castro: Stages of denial in Cleveland sex and torture case

benjamin.mueller@latimes.com

Twitter: @benjmueller

Advertisement