By Christian Hetrick and Robert Moran

The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — Johnny Bobbitt Jr. will get his $400,000.

GoFundMe and Cozen O’Connor, the Philadelphia law firm representing the homeless man, announced Thursday evening in a joint statement that Bobbitt will receive an amount equal to the balance of the funds he did not get from the online fundraiser set up for him in November. The campaign was established to help the man whose story of helping a stranded motorist inspired thousands of people to contribute.

What happened to the actual donations is now under a criminal investigation made public in dramatic fashion Thursday when police executed a search warrant at the New Jersey home of Kate McClure and Mark D’Amico, the couple who launched the online plea for Bobbitt, a 35-year-old North Carolina native living under an I-95 ramp who spent his last $20 to help McClure when she ran out of gas in Kensington late one night last fall.

“Johnny will be made whole and we’re committing that he’ll get the balance of the funds that he has not yet received or benefited from. GoFundMe’s goal has always been to ensure Johnny gets support he deserves,” said the statement, which was emailed to reporters by Bobby Whithorne, director of North America Communications for GoFundMe.

“We’ll continue to assist with the ongoing law enforcement investigation,” the statement continued.

Earlier in the day, GoFundMe announced it was taking steps to make it easier for donors to the Bobbitt campaign to get their money back.

Whithorne said the crowdfunding platform, which has reported raising more than $5 billion from roughly 50 million donors since it was founded in 2010, was waiving part of its refund policy that could have prevented Bobbitt’s donors from requesting reimbursements.