NY Woman Indicted For Allegedly Stealing From One Fund Boston

BOSTON (CBS) --- A New York woman has been indicted for claiming she suffered a traumatic brain injury in the Boston Marathon bombing and collected $480,000 from the One Fund.

Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Monday, Audrea Gause, 26, of Troy, N.Y., was indicted by a Suffolk County Grand Jury on the charges of larceny over $250 and gross fraud.

"We allege that this defendant fraudulently claimed she sustained a critical injury at the site of the marathon tragedy and defrauded The One Fund Boston of $480,000," Coakley said. "This defendant allegedly attempted to steal from the real victims of the Marathon bombing, and we are pleased that we were able to recover this money for The One Fund Boston."

Gause was arrested on July 19 by State Police assigned to the Massachusetts AG's Office on a fugitive warrant in Troy, N.Y.

She was transported back to Massachusetts and arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on August 2. She is currently being held on $200,000 cash bail.

Investigators say One Fund officials received a detailed and notarized claim from Gause, which included several pages of medical records, indicating that she had been hospitalized at the Boston Medical Center for two days, and then at the Albany Medical Center for ten days.

Gause claimed she sustained a brain injury from the Boston Marathon bombing and experienced long-term memory loss, impaired speech, and loss of some motor function that would require future surgery.

At the end of June, The One Fund Administrator sent Gause a letter confirming her claim had been approved and subsequently paid that claim.

Investigators say Gause used the money for a down payment on a new home.

She also allegedly signed up for a cruise, named the "Heroes Cruise," which was being offered free for victims of the bombings.