JP woman admits lying to get Marathon bombing money

Joanna Leigh, 41, of Jamaica Plain, today pleaded guilty to five counts of larceny over $250 by false pretenses for accepting almost $40,000 in cash and other benefits intended for survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings even though she was not near the explosions.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Peter Krupp gave Leigh a one-year suspended jail sentence for trying to put one over on everybody from government officials to students at a Mattapan school, who were moved by her accounts of the head injuries she actually didn't sustain.

In addition to not going to jail, Leigh has to pay full restitution, perform 300 hours of community service and undergo a mental-health evaluation, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, which had urged actual prison time for her. In a statement, DA Dan Conley said:

This defendant exploited the compassion of people and agencies who wanted to help those in need. Every dollar she received was stolen from someone who truly deserved it.

According to the DA's office, Leigh did attend a viewing party near the Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013, but had left the area and was on Fairfield Street when the bombs went off.

She was not injured and did not seek medical treatment until about two weeks later, when she claimed to have suffered a traumatic brain injury running toward the second blast site to help the wounded.

Specifically, the evidence would have shown, Leigh obtained:

• About $900 in cosmetic dermatology services for facial redness - a procedure she had already undergone at least once prior to the bombings;
• About $9,350 through a GoFundMe page she created, using another person’s name and likeness to suggest that she was badly injured in the bombing and not receiving assistance;
• About $18,000 in cash and services through the Massachusetts Victims of Violent Crime Compensation program;
• About $1,850 in cash through a fundraiser held by students and faculty at the Mildred Avenue Middle School in Mattapan who believed she was a Marathon bombing victim; and
• $8,000 through the One Fund, which was created to assist those who were injured and the families of those who were killed in the bombings, waging a campaign accusing the charity of malfeasance when it sought the medical records necessary to categorize her in the same group as those who were killed, underwent double amputations, or suffered permanent brain damage.

The evidence would also have shown that she altered, misrepresented, and sought to amend her medical records to bolster her false claim.