An Irishman who was deported by U.S. immigration officials in 2025 was seen back in the country perpetrating a fake home repair scam in Seattle, Washington, and ripping off Americans for hundreds of thousands.
The man, identified as Bernard “Bernie” McDonagh, 42, a resident of Cork, Ireland, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Boston in July of 2025 and deported back to Ireland. He had already been a suspect in multiple cases of fraud, according to Seattle’s KING-TV.
Federal officials told the TV station McDonagh is far from a lone actor, but is, instead, part of an international multimillion-dollar crime ring.
Despite being deported last year, McDonagh was seen again in the U.S. going door-to-door in Seattle trying to drum up home repair jobs. The TV news outlet confirmed the man seen on home surveillance video is, indeed, the same man deported last year.
But McDonagh, who has weapons charges against him in the UK, was not just running an honest handyman business. Instead, he was perpetrating a scam consisting of purposefully shoddy home repairs that he then charges extra to “fix” before disappearing entirely leaving homeowners with flawed work, no resolution, and empty bank accounts.
This scam is similar to the schemes run by organized crime “Irish Traveler” families seen throughout Europe and the UK. These criminals float multiple companies and rotate them to stay a step ahead of the authorities. In Seattle, McDonagh was connected to several companies, including TrueCraft Masonry, Flex Roofing and Repairs, and many others.
The TV station interviewed one man who lost $22,000 to the fake repair scheme while another lost a heartbreaking $200,000. KING added that they have identified as many as 50 victims of this fraudster and his crime ring in Seattle.
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The U.S. Attorney’s office told KING-TV that McDonagh and his associates are under suspicion and an investigation has been started, but so far, no arrests or public warnings have been implemented, and McDonagh is still at large.
Some of these “traveling conmen” have been arrested and convicted before. In April, the IRS reported an Irish national named John O’Brien was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. to 56 months in federal prison for a similar home repair fraud scheme perpetrated in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, where he scammed homeowners of more than $1.5 million.
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