Irish National Pleads Guilty to Multi-State Home Repair Fraud Scheme

PROVIDENCE - An Irish National who was living unlawfully in the United States has pleaded guilty in federal court in Rhode Island on charges related to his role in a scheme to defraud homeowners in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, said Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

John O'Brien, 28, pleaded guilty on December 10,2025, to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. O'Brien will be sentenced on March 11, 2026. The sentence imposed will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

According to court documents, O'Brien and his co-conspirators induced homeowners to pay for home repairs that were unnecessary and often not completed. O'Brien falsely claimed structural problems, overstated repair needs, and misrepresented the need for the repairs and services, as well as the qualifications of his purported construction companies, including Traditional Masonry & Construction. Investigators estimate that the scheme defrauded homeowners of more than $1.5 million.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Taylor A. Dean and Sandra R. Hebert.

The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Warwick and East Providence Police Departments.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Rhode Island comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Marshals Service, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Department of Labor-Office of Inspector General, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Intelligence & Analysis, and Rhode Island Police Departments in Warwick, Newport, Providence, East Providence, and Lincoln, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island.