Middlesex D.A. Charges Alleged Scam Artists From Woburn, Reading Following Joint Investigation With Burlington Police

BURLINGTON, MA -- Three men were pleaded not guilty to charges of running a multi-year scam in which they cold-called local business owners and promised them high-end televisions at a reduced price. Robert O’Neil, 70, of Woburn, Michael MacMillan, 49, of Reading and Keith Ryan, 44, of Connecticut were nabbed following a joint investigation by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office and the Burlington Police Department.

"By collaborating with law enforcement we have been able to make many arrests over the years as part of this investigation," Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. "This marks the conclusion of a lengthy investigation to identify not just the individuals executing this scam on the ground but also the individuals who were allegedly organizing and overseeing this scheme from the top."

The three men are accused of running an ongoing scam in which one man would allegedly cold-call local businesses and say he was the business owner's UPS delivery man. He would explain that he had a relative who worked for Best Buy or Sears and that he could get the victim a high-end, flat screen television at a reduced price, provided that the victim was willing to pay cash.

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According to Ryan's office, the three men recruiter "runners" to pose as store employees, who would meet the victim in a parking lot of the store wearing a store uniform and name tag. They would collect the money and tell the victim to pull around to the loading dock. The runner would then walk back into the store and flee through another entrance.

The men are alleged to have carried out the scam at Sears and Best Buy retail department stores located predominantly in regional malls in Massachusetts including the South Shore Mall, the Burlington Mall, Cambridgeside Mall, the Natick Mall, the Emerald Square Mall, in North Attleboro, the North Shore Mall, in Peabody, the Auburn Mall, the Square One Mall in Saugus, as well as in the Pheasant Run and the Rockingham Malls, in New Hampshire, and other malls in Maine, New Jersey and New York. There were no actual sales of overstock televisions and all transactions were conducted with cash in the parking lot, never in the stores.

Burlington Police began working with the D.A.'s office on the joint investigation in 2015. The three men were released on their own recognizance and have been charged with multiple counts of larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny. They are due back in court on November 6. O’Neil and MacMillan were ordered to wear GPS monitoring bracelets, while Ryan is already under court supervision in Connecticut.

Burlington Mall photo by Rene Schwietzke via Flickr

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).