A member of the Irish Traveler community who is awaiting trial for a 2020 scam has been arrested again, this time for taking advantage of an 80-year-old Martinez woman who suffers from memory loss.
Paul Joseph Ohara, 51, of North Augusta, got the victim to agree to some maintenance work at her home on Flowing Wells Road. He said he worked for “American Asphalt” and had the woman sign a contract in December.
According to the woman’s nephew, the victim “suffers from memory loss and could be suffering from dementia, but she has not been medically diagnosed,” a Columbia County sheriff’s report says. The suspect and some helpers did some work for the woman in December and asked for payment by check.
The suspects returned to the woman’s home several more times in December and requested additional payments.
“Because (she) could not remember if she had paid the subjects on the previous occasions, she wrote them a new check,” a report says. “(The victim) lost track and could not remember all of the checks she had written. There were a total of 12 checks written during the month of December, which totaled $49,200.00.”
Ohara was already awaiting trial for a 2020 scam of an 80-year-old Harlem woman. He failed to appear for a jury trial calendar call in March of this year, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
In that case, he allegedly conned the Harlem woman out of her entire savings account of $300. He agreed to spray the end of her driveway with sealant for free if she would place a business sign in her driveway, and she declined. He did the work anyway and demanded $750, but she said all she had was $300 in her account, which he took. She waited a week to tell her daughter and report the crime because she was embarrassed, authorities said.
Ohara has multiple warrants out of North Carolina and Virginia, and he has previous conviction in Ohio for theft without consent. He also has pending warrants for failure to appear for a DUI arrest in Augusta. The suspect was also charged with driving on a suspended license and no proof of insurance in the Richmond County case.
Ohara is being held without bond at the Columbia County Detention Center. The suspect has a listed address of 1120 Edgefield Road in the Irish Traveler community of North Augusta.
Some 2,000 or more Irish Travelers live in the Murphy Village area of Aiken County, according to media reports. Many make money carrying out complex white-collar fraud schemes.
In 2017, a group of 21 Irish Travellers admitted to membership of an organized crime gang that was involved in insurance, construction and social welfare scams.
