Brothers pretend to fix older man’s roof, steal half of his retirement savings, feds say
Two brothers pressured an older homeowner into paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for “expensive” repairs they pretended to make on his Washington home, according to federal prosecutors.
Patrick McDonagh and Matthew McDonagh, both from Ireland, ended up stealing $435,000 from the man — including half of his retirement savings from a 401K plan, he told authorities, according to a criminal complaint.
Defense attorneys representing the brothers didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment on July 16.
In January, the McDonaghs convinced the man that they were home repairmen doing contracted work in Shoreline, where he lived, about a 10-mile drive north from Seattle, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
They told him they spotted a hole in his roof, offering to repair it and to clear his roof of moss, prosecutors said in a July 15 news release.
Matthew McDonagh went to inspect the roof and “returned with a shingle purporting to show damage,” according to the criminal complaint.
After the homeowner accepted the brothers’ offer for repairs, the McDonaghs successfully persuaded him to write them checks worth $15,000, $20,000 and $26,000, prosecutors said.
They also told the man his home needed more fixing, claiming he had a cracked foundation that they could repair with “a titanium tie rod system,” according to prosecutors.
“The roof had no hole, and the foundation was not failing,” prosecutors said in the release.
The brothers, acting as if they were repairing damage, dug trenches at the man’s home, poured concrete and demanded more money for the work — including $20,000 for “taxes,” according to prosecutors.
The homeowner was unaware both brothers had defrauded homeowners before — and that they belonged to a traveling group of accused scammers, prosecutors said.
Nearly half of the money the McDonaghs stole from the man, $200,000, was demanded by them for building supplies, according to prosecutors.
The man had objected to their demands, saying he couldn’t afford to pay them, court documents say.
Patrick McDonagh is accused of telling him to transfer his retirement savings to pay him. After the man’s bank account was mostly drained, he “became suspicious, and his family called the police,” according to court documents.
Arrests made
Both brothers were arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in June, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
They’re charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to prosecutors.
“This type of fraud on our elderly neighbors is heartbreaking,” U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a statement. “To pose as someone trying to help them, while all the while the goal is to steal as much as they can from the victim’s hard-earned retirement funds. It is a special kind of cruelty to engage in such conduct.”
The FBI has linked the McDonagh’s to other instances of fraud in Spokane, about a 280-mile drive east from Seattle, and Washington County, Oregon, prosecutors said.
They’re accused of stealing $50,000 during those incidents after making similar claims to homeowners about them needing repairs, according to prosecutors.
“In those cases, they used fake photos of holes in the homeowner’s roof or alleged problems with the house’s foundation or posed as local-reputable businesses,” prosecutors said.
The McDonaghs appeared in federal court in Seattle on July 12, when prosecutors filed a motion requesting their detention, arguing that they present a flight risk and don’t have legal status in the U.S.
The list of their victims “is growing,” prosecutors wrote.
When an expert working for the government later examined the Washington man’s home, they “found no evidence of a $435,000 construction project — any recent work was minimal and cheap,” the filing says.
The U.S. Attorney’s office advises homeowners to get multiple estimates for home repair work, to verify whether a contractor is licensed and has insurance and to check with agencies — including the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission — to see if any complaints have been made against a contractor.
Washington residents can search for contractors on the Washington State’s Department of Labor & Industries’ website.
If Patrick and Matthew McDonagh are convicted of a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, they could face up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.
This story was originally published July 16, 2024 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Brothers pretend to fix older man’s roof, steal half of his retirement savings, feds say."
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