New York woman arraigned in One Fund Boston scam

A New York woman accused of fraudulently collecting $480,000 from a fund for Boston Marathon bombing victims was arraigned in a Boston municipal court, Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley’s office said in a statement .

Audrea Gause, who appeared in court Friday, was arrested July 19 in her hometown, Troy, N.Y., on a Massachusetts fugitive warrant.

The 26-year-old Gause is charged with larceny over $250. She pleaded not guilty, and Judge Thomas C. Horgan set her bail at $200,000, the statement said.

Gause collected nearly half a million dollars from The One Fund Boston after claiming that she had suffered a traumatic brain injury in the Boston Marathon bombing. She filed a detailed and notarized claim that included purported medical records from Boston Medical Center and Albany Medical Center.

But after receiving a tip that Gause may not have been in Boston during the Marathon bombing in April, the attorney general’s office opened an investigation. Prosecutors discovered that Gause had not been a patient at either of the hospitals at which she claimed to have been treated.

The statement Friday said investigators took steps to return the money to The One Fund.

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured in the bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15.

Gause is the second person arrested by the attorney general’s office for fraud in connection with claims to The One Fund. In July, a Boston man was arrested on suspicion of submitting a $2-million fraudulent claim on behalf of his aunt.

Gause is due back in court Sept. 4 for a pretrial hearing.

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