Prosecutor: Area Woman Charged with $15K Theft From Accident Victim’s Fundraiser

An area woman has been arrested and charged with stealing more than $15,000 from an online fundraiser she organized last year for a Florida man severely injured in a car accident, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Monday.

Nicole C. Weidelman, 46, of Tinton Falls, has been charged with third-degree theft by deception in connection with the theft.

The case background …

An investigation led by Tinton Falls Police Department Detective William Rodriguez revealed that in November of 2022, the intended fundraiser recipient was involved in a serious motor vehicle collision on I-95 in Florida. The recovery from the incident proved lengthy and costly, reportedly involving more than a dozen surgeries, a month and a half in the hospital, and the loss of an arm, necessitating a prosthetic.

The investigation revealed that Weidelman contacted the man’s mother, a longtime family friend, and offered to set up an online fundraiser to assist with the expenses incurred from the medical bills. But after raising slightly more than $15,000, Weidelman, police said, transferred all of the raised money into her own personal account via more than two dozen transactions. She then allegedly provided numerous false explanations to the victims over the course of the next several months, before the theft was reported to authorities.

Weidelman was arrested last week.

UPDATE: The victim’s mother reached out to R-FH Retro with the following information:

“GoFundMe has a fraud guarantee and they paid out, to my son, every penny of the $15,000 that was raised once we reported Nicole to the authorities. So many of my RFH classmates and Monmouth County friends donated and I want them to know that their donations have been going towards my son’s medical expenses and prosthetic cost.” ~ Cordie McMahon

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office