Home Economy Economic Activity Irish national agrees to plea deal after bilking more than $1M from...

Irish national agrees to plea deal after bilking more than $1M from R.I., Mass. homeowners

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PBN Staff

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11/17/2025

2ev1P5ui-lUYGee94-7RnotPu0-4cTk5vLT-co4oOI0M-dKKfjIni-9zuRNzNb-DistrictCourt-1 — AN IRISH national has agreed to a plea deal for bilking more than $1 million from homeowners, including in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, as part of a multistate fraud operation, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island on Nov. 12. / COURTESY U.S. DISTRICT COURT

PROVIDENCE – An Irish national has agreed to a plea deal for bilking more than $1 million from homeowners, including in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, as part of a multistate fraud operation, according to court documents. John O’Brien, 28, of Ireland, agreed to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island to wire fraud and forfeit $1.5 million

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PROVIDENCE – An Irish national has agreed to a plea deal for bilking more than $1 million from homeowners, including in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, as part of a multistate fraud operation, according to court documents. John O’Brien, 28, of Ireland, agreed to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island to wire fraud and forfeit $1.5 million and two pickup trucks under a plea agreement filed on Nov. 12. Prosecutors will recommend that O’Brien serve up to 56 months in prison. According to court documents, O’Brien and others allegedly defrauded property owners by inducing them to pay for home repairs that were not needed and often not completed. O’Brien misrepresented the need for repairs and services, as well as the qualifications of his purported construction business. The scheme came to the attention of law enforcement when an 83-year-old Warwick resident complained to the Warwick Police Department that he had been defrauded by a contractor. The man reported that O’Brien told him that he observed cracks in the man’s house foundation while doing work in his neighborhood. O’Brien offered to professionally repair the foundation and collected $9,500. As work proceeded, O’Brien allegedly claimed that further damage was discovered, revised the costs for repairs and sought an additional $80,000. A home inspector hired by the U.S. Attorney’s Office later reviewed the property and found no evidence the repairs were needed. The Warwick resident, Don Fife, a U.S. Air Force veteran, told WPRI-TV CBS 12 in April that O’Brien first approached him while working on a neighbor’s house. O’Brien offered to fix the cracking in Fife’s home foundation with no money down, only to ask for thousands of dollars two days later. “I wrote a check for $995, and then the next day there was more damage. And now he said … this is a $95,000 project,” Fife told WPRI. Fife and the company settled for $80,000, however he felt uneasy. Later that day, Warwick police arrived in the neighborhood and arrested O’Brien. Fife told WPRI some of the employees walked to the back of his yard, took off their sweatshirts, left their tools and jumped his back fence to escape police. Other alleged victims, according to court documents, described similar interactions with O’Brien that began with unsolicited recommendations for small home repairs, followed by O’Brien’s purported discovery of major repairs needed, and often a representation that the homeowner’s foundation was in urgent need of repairs. It is estimated that this scheme has defrauded homeowners out of more than $1 million. At the time of O’Brien’s arrest, investigators allegedly seized from his vehicle hundreds of fliers, identical to the ones handed out to the victims in this case, and four binders containing quotes, contracts and invoices for Traditional Masonry and Construction. The documents and contracts were dated between April 2024 and March 2025, and ranged from $300 to $205,000. The approximate value of the contracts contained within the binders totaled $1.9 million.