Brothers jailed for US home repairs scam targeting the elderly

Two County Fermanagh brothers who scammed elderly homeowners in the United States out of hundreds of thousands of dollars have been sentenced to 18 months in a US prison and face likely deportation.

Patrick McDonagh, 35, and Matthew McDonagh, 34, from Irvinestown, travelled around Oregon and Illinois posing as home repair workers and defrauding older residents.

One homeowner in a neighbourhood north of Seattle lost about $435,000 (£343,000) to the scheme.

The brothers pleaded guilty in September. They have already served six months of their 18-month sentence.

A victim told the court the deception left them feeling ashamed and betrayed.

"They were aggressive, relentless in their pursuit of more and more money. They preyed on my trust and my faith.... I feel ashamed, frustrated, and betrayed and now I don't trust others."

District Judge John H Chun called their actions "terrible and serious criminal conduct".

The United States Department of Justice said both men face likely deportation.

Assistant United States Attorney Lauren Watts Staniar told BBC News NI most of the McDonaghs' victims were aged over 60.

She said both men expressed remorse and apologised to one of them, who was present at the hearing on Monday.

"This doesn't make the victim whole," she said, but added it would help as part of the process as moving on.

She added that the "financial cost is really dire" for many of those scammed by the McDonaghs.

The lead victim in the prosecution's case, who lost almost half a million dollars in total, gave the brothers half of his retirement savings.

"Because the McDonaghs, and people like them, have taken advantage of this trust, it leads victims to a sense of fear and an inability to move forward," she said.

"There is an emotional devastation which comes with this type of crime."

FBI special agent Ethan Via described the McDonaghs' scam as a "travelling roadshow of fraud" - going from state to state, knocking on doors and telling homeowners they had problems with their roof or chimney as a way to "weasel in" to the victims.

"The scope of this is something I was stunned about and continue to be," he said, adding the brothers deception was "very sophisticated".

"They are in these people's houses. In our most sacred places, in our living rooms, in our dining rooms. They would get their victims to open up to them about their other financial accounts."

Mr Via confirmed both the brothers have deportation orders but said it was not yet established whether they would be deported to Northern Ireland or the Republic.

According to the United States Attorney's Office for the western district of Washington, the brothers travelled the country scamming homeowners by falsely claiming their home needed urgent repairs.

In January 2024, they first approached one victim in Shoreline, north of Seattle, and claimed he had a hole in his roof, which they offered to fix along with removing moss.

Over the course of a few days, they pressurised the victim to write them cheques for their services to the amounts of $15,000 (£11,830), $20,000 (£15,770) and $26,000 (£20,500).

They then claimed the victim's foundation was cracked, and said they would repair that with a titanium tie rod system.

The roof had no hole and the foundation was not failing. However the brothers dug trenches and poured some concrete to make it appear work had been done.

They continued to pressure the victim for more money, including wiring a third party $200,000 (£157,730) to cover "building supplies".

In total, the McDonaghs stole almost half a million dollars - $435,000 - from the victim.

The FBI investigation connected the brothers to contractor fraud complaints in Oregon and Illinois.

In Oregon, Patrick McDonagh represented to three different victims that he was affiliated with a local legitimate construction firm, when in fact he was not.

Those victims paid as much as $29,000 (£22,870) for foundation work that was never completed.

In Illinois, Matthew McDonagh claimed he would repave a victim's driveway and rebuild a retaining wall for $99,000 (£78,080).

After the victim paid $75,000 (£59,150), the work was poorly done and damaged the victim's house.

The pair have agreed to make restitution to the victims by reimbursing some or all of the offence-related financial losses.

This includes $235,000 (£185,330) to the Shoreline victim, nearly $50,000 (£39,430) to the three victims in Oregon, $75,000 (£59,149) to a victim in Illinois, and more than $673,000 (£530,760) to a victim in Bellevue, Washington.