Three men from Ireland and Britain have been jailed for running a shady roof repair scandal and defrauding elderly Australians of up to 43 434,000.
Michael Dooley, 36, and Johnny Dooley, 34, both of Illinois, were sentenced by a Victoria County court to four years and nine months in prison, while Joseph Ball, 30, a dual citizen of Australia and Britain, was sentenced to four years.
From February to July 2020, three individuals posed as construction contractors in the Melbourne suburbs, such as Cui, and in affluent areas such as Camberwell.
They reached out to homeowners in the area, walked over to them and explained that they had worked nearby when they noticed imperfections on their roofs.
Dulles and Mr. Ball, especially the frail elderly, are some of the victims in their 90s.
Once the owners agree to let the trio fix the damage, they remove the tiles and pretend to notice more wrong damage, causing more problems and additional costs for their customers.
The court heard that in many cases victims feel the pressure to bear the extra costs and labor because work has already begun and their homes have been exposed to the weather.
The men’s “sophisticated” scheme involves multiple aliases, setting up fake companies and registering vehicles and phones under false identities to avoid being caught.
In one case, Johnny and Michael Dooley persuaded a Melbourne suburban Sunderingham couple to keep $ 80,000 in their bank account and told them their roof needed to be repainted immediately.
Dooles cheated the couple out of a total of $ 147,888. They got their money back from their bank.
In another case, a man paid স্ক 102,000 to scammers when he was told that asbestos had been discovered on his roof and needed to be removed urgently.
In all, Mr. Ball and Dulles have defrauded 43 people in 37 separate incidents, not including the four victims of identity theft.
All three have pleaded guilty to nearly two dozen charges, including acquiring property through fraud and financial gain through fraud.
On Tuesday, Judge Michael O’Connell told the trio in Victoria District Court that “the value of your crime is much more than the money you received” because they left their elderly victims injured.
“They were always older. They felt a strong need to have a solid roof over their heads and they couldn’t challenge your misrepresentation of the need for repairs and the cost of those repairs.” , He said.
“His mistake was to believe you were honest. Now ordinary people have lost faith in doing the right thing.
“It’s not hard to imagine a broad deterrent effect of your dishonesty on those in the community who are willing to hire local dealers but may be reluctant to do so in light of the experiences of these victims.”
Both Michael and John Dooley are eligible for parole in less than a year, while Ball is eligible for parole in just two months.