It seems there's no end to the alleged crimes of John Simpson, founder of Marines & Mickey.
Simpson is currently serving out a nine-year prison sentence for burglary with assault or battery, obstructing justice, sexual assault, stalking and contempt of court for violating a domestic violence injunction. He also, we now know, siphoned thousands of dollars off members of the Marine Corps under the guise of his charity.
Simpson founded Marines & Mickey in 2014. The charity supposedly raised funds to send Marines and their families to Disney theme parks and boot camp graduations. On the charity's now deleted website, Simpson claimed to be a Marine Corps veteran with service in a reconnaissance battalion and as a Parris Island drill instructor.
In reality, Simpson joined the Marines in 1994, worked as a finance technician, was demoted to the rank of private, and involuntarily discharged in 1998 when he went AWOL.
Lying about his service record helped Simpson to gain the trust of potential donors who gave over $481,000 to Marines & Mickey from 2014 to 2016, when his service record was called into question. According to the federal indictment filed against Simpson, $391,000 of that money went into Simpson's pocket.
The money from the charity paid for a car, dental work, bikinis, a charge at the Museum of Sex in New York City, and an $800 tax payment for Red Room Toys, Simpson's ex-wife's business.
Around $140,000 of that money Simpson mishandled came from Cathy Wells, the mother of Lance Cpl. Skip Wells, a Marine killed in an active shooter attack at a military recruiting center in Chattanooga, TN in 2015. Simpson approached Wells about his charity at her son's funeral.
And that's not all.
Most recently, a newly filed court document revealed that Simpson also stole over $5,000 from seven active-duty Marines. Filed by US Attorney Sherri Lydon, the document states that Simpson made unauthorized withdrawals from the bank accounts of these seven Marines between 2015 and 2016.
Simpson approached the seven during Family Day at Parris Island.
"Simpson asked them to donate to the charity on a recurring monthly basis in nominal amounts of approximately $25," Lydon stated. "They gave Simpson their debit card numbers. Instead of making the agreed upon withdrawals, Simpson made unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts in a combined total amount of more than $5,000."
Simpson now faces a maximum federal sentence of 20 years.