Police in Massachusetts are continuing to warn about so-called "Irish Traveler schemes" after an Irish national was arrested in Quincy, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, on Saturday, January 20.
Quincy Police said on Monday that on Saturday, a Quincy Police Officer stopped the driver of a Land Rover Defender on West Squantum Street in Quincy after the driver was observed making illegal left turn, driving the wrong way onto Stratton Way.
The driver, police said, was operating the vehicle without a license and was cited for a One Way/Restricted Way violation and Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle. The vehicle was towed and the operator and occupants were sent on their way.
Police said a motor vehicle inventory was conducted prior to the vehicle being towed, and over $70,000 in US and foreign currency, foreign identification documents, and a large quantity of what is believed to be stolen jewelry were seized.
Included among the jewelry were four graduation class rings: 1960's Piedmont High School, 1960's Woonsocket High School, 1970's Female West Point, and 1990's Texas A&M.
Police said the operator of the vehicle - whose name was not released by police - is an Irish national who is believed to be a part of ongoing Irish Traveler construction frauds/scams more recently encountered by police in Massachusetts.
Quincy Police noted that law enforcement in Massachusetts has recently issued several advisories about suspected “Irish Traveler" schemes and encouraged victims to report this crime so that it can be investigated.
These scams, police said, usually start with an unsolicited visit to someone's home by a contractor stating they have "leftover materials" and the person keeps finding more items to repair on your property.
Quincy Police Chief Mark Kennedy said on Monday that the pending charges are a result of good police work.
"It is important for victims of these type of sophisticated scams to report these crimes as it allows our detectives to investigate and coordinate with other law enforcement agencies in the area since these crimes are a regional issue," Kennedy said.
This type of crime is on the rise in Massachusetts, Quincy Police said on Monday, adding that the US Department of Homeland Security was notified and this matter remains under investigation by the Quincy Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The vehicle operator was issued a summons to appear in Quincy District Court for motor vehicle offenses.
Last July, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Irish national Patrick Connors, 31, had been removed by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston.
Connors was described by ICE as "an unlawfully present Irish citizen identified as a member of a transnational criminal organization who is wanted for passport fraud, theft, and multiple motor vehicle offenses in the Republic of Ireland."
ICE said law enforcement officials in Ireland and the US had identified Connors as a member of a transnational criminal organization called the Traveling Conmen Fraud Group.
More recently, NBC10 Boston Investigators said in December that they had found "dozens" of victims of the alleged scams in the Boston area.
Issuing a warning, Medford Police Chief Jack Buckley told NBC10 Boston: "If a contractor knocks on your door and said, 'Hey, I was just in the neighborhood, I have leftover materials,' be on alert. That has generally been a red flag."
Michael Krol, the special-agent-in-charge for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New England, told NBC10 Boston: "These are scam artists to the core. They will stop at nothing to defraud their victims.
"They are driven only by greed and only by money.
"This is what they do for a living. So being very good at scamming consumers is their job."
According to ICE's Fiscal Year 2023 report, 37 citizens of Ireland were removed from the US in 2023, an increase of 20 from 2022.
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