Former S.C. resident sentenced in charity fraud case

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A Florida man and former S.C. resident will spend four years in federal prison for running a fraudulent charity supposedly established to help the families of Marines.

John Shannon Simpson, 44, pleaded guilty to wire fraud. After entering his plea in federal court in Charleston, Simpson was sentenced to four years in prison followed by three years of probation. He was also ordered to pay nearly $142,000 in restitution to victims.

The sentence will run consecutively with Simpson’s current nine-year sentence in Florida, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon.

Prosecutors say Simpson founded a charitable organization called “Marines and Mickey” to provide funds for members of the U.S. Marine Corps and their families to visit Walt Disney World. The charity also claimed to help families pay to attend boot camp graduation at Parris Island and San Diego. The charity claimed 100% of the donations went directly to the Marines and actively solicited donations on and near the base at Parris Island.

While representing the charity, Simpson said he was a retired career Marine when, in fact, in less than five years in the Marine Corps, he was AWOL for more than one year. Simpson was found guilty at a special court-martial for the AWOL and given a bad-conduct discharge.

During the two years Marines and Mickey operated, it raised about $481,000 in donations. Prosecutors say about $90,000 of those donations, or 19%, was used for charitable purposes. Simpson diverted about $391,000 for his personal use.

During 2015 and 2016, prosecutors say Simpson also made unauthorized withdrawals from the bank accounts of at least seven active duty Marines who had recently graduated from boot camp. Lydon’s office said Simpson convinced the Marines to allow him to make recurring withdrawals of nominal amounts to support his charity. Instead, he used their debit card numbers to withdraw more than $5,000.

Agents from the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean H. Secor of the Charleston office.