An Irish national present illegally in the United States is now in federal custody after being initially arrested for the immigration and customs control of the United States (ICE). The 28 -year -old has been ordered detained for criminal wire fraud and conspiracy charges related to an alleged scheme to disappoint owners at Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The authorities announced the judgment of John O’Brien by the ICE agents at the end of March for immigration violations related to the overcoming of his visa and violating the terms of his admission of Ireland to the United States. After a greater investigation by the police authorities, a federal criminal complaint was filed claiming that O’Brien defrauded numerous residents of Rhode Island and Massachusetts in a frudulent home repair scheme.
On April 3, O’Brien was prosecuted in the United States District Court for the Federal Criminal Complaint that accused him of electronic fraud and conspiracy to commit electronic fraud. He is now under the custody of the Department of Justice and will face the trial for criminal charges.
Judicial documents claim that O’Brien and others were part of a scheme that defrauded the owners by convincing victims to pay unnecessary household repairs and services. It also alleges that O’Brien falsely represented the qualifications of his construction business, “Masonry and traditional construction.”
The police authorities realized the alleged criminal activity of O’Briens when a Warwick, 83, Massachusetts, a resident, identified in judicial documents as victim 1, called the Warwick Police Department that had scammed a contractor. Victim 1 claimed that O’Brien told him that he observed cracks in the foundation of victim 1 while working on another property in the neighborhood.
Subsequently, O’Brien offered to repair the damage of the foundation and raised almost $ 10000 from the victim. As the work progressed, O’Brien supposedly said that more damage was discovered. O’Brien supposedly reviewed the repair costs and searched $ 80000 of the victim. Later, the United States prosecutor’s office, the United States prosecutor’s office, was sent by the Rhode Island district and found no evidence of the need for these extensive foundations of foundations.
Other alleged victims have presented themselves and reported that Bee approached O’Brien with unreasized sacrifices to make minor home repairs later became more extensive and expensive projects. Research authorities estimate that unnecessary repairs of the Household Foundation fraud to homes of more than $ 1,000,000.
Hundreds of flyers advertised the traditional masonry and construction of O’Brien were passed by the police at the time of their trial. Additional evidence included four binders containing appointments, contracts and invoices for the company. The documents and contracts are dating between April 2024 to March 2025 and vary from $ 300 to $ 205,000. The approximate value of the contracts contained within the binders totaled $ 1,987,650.00, according to the researchers.
According to the FBI, it is alleged that the O’Brien scheme has the execution of the legs is becoming increasingly common through the United States. It has been known as travel fraud. According to the FBI terrorist detection center, congenasis travelers are groups of Irish citizens or the United Kingdom who entered the United States for pleasure or tourist visas that do not allow them to work or commonly enter the United States illegally.
Once in the United States, they visit different cities and states, platform construction work. Members often cite a low price but, after an additional inspection, demand much more and convince the owner that their property needs important repairs. According to the FBI, the suspects of rental day workers do not have work authorization documents, do not obtain permits and carry out low quality, unnecessary or incomplete work. In some cases, scammers cause damage to the residences of the owners last the repair process.
ICE National Security investigations and the United States prosecutor’s office recommend some simple councils to avoid becoming a victim. These include being cautious with unre requested contractors, obtaining a second opinion for expensive repairs, verifying licenses and verifying that a commercial and real management exists, and ensuring that contractors have a permission for the work done.
Randy Clark He is a 32 -year -old veteran of the United States border patrol. Before his retirement, he worked as a division head for operations of application of the law, directing operations for nine border patrol stations within the Río sector, Texas. Follow it in X (previously Twitter) @randyclarkbtx.
