Marine veteran John Shannon Simpson was sentenced to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced Tuesday.

Simpson was ordered to pay restitution of $141,709.44 to the victims of his charity scam, dubbed Marines & Mickey, where Simpson bilked people into donating money to help Marines and families attend Disney and Marine boot camp graduation, the release detailed.

Sentencing was handed down by United States District Judge David C. Norton of Charleston, South Carolina, who also sentenced Simpson to three years of supervised release following his prison term, according to a press release.

Simpson will serve his prison term consecutively with a nine year state sentence for sexual assault he is already serving in Florida.

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Court documents revealed that the victims of Simpson’s charity scam included active-duty Marines and the mother of a Marine killed in the 2015 attack on the military recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee

The Charlotte Observer identified the mother as Cathy Wells, whose son, Lance Cpl. Skip Wells, was killed in the 2015 shooting incident.

Wells dished out nearly $135,000 dollars to the charity, court documents detailed.

Simpson pocketed $391,000 from the nearly $481,000 he raised from 2014–2016, feds said in court documents.

Feds also alleged in court documents that Simpson lied about his military service to get more donations, telling donors he was a Marine master sergeant and prior drill instructor and recon Marine.

But court documents said Simpson served less than five years as a disbursing clerk and was reduced to private following a special court-martial for being absent without leave.

The FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service aided in investigating the case.

About Shawn Snow

Shawn Snow is the senior reporter for Marine Corps Times and a Marine Corps veteran.

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