The luck of the Irish was not with one foreign traveler on Saturday when Quincy police stopped him for driving his Land Rover up a one-way street in the wrong direction.
The stop took place on West Squantum Street around 11am, just after the driver left the parking lot of a Holiday Inn Express.
Police soon learned that the driver was an Irish National with no driver’s license. Accordingly, police removed the man from the Land Rover and called a tow company to pick up the vehicle.
Prior to the tow truck’s arrive, officers conducted an inventory of the SUV. They found approximately $70,000 in domestic and foreign cash as well as international ID’s and a large stash of stolen jewelry. The jewelry included several class rings from Piedmont High School (1960s), Woonsocket High School (1970s), West Point (1990s) and Texas A&M.
Police believe that the suspect was involved in the “Irish Traveler” construction scam. The scam involves an Irish construction worker who goes house to house (unsolicited) and tells homeowners that he has leftover building materials from a previous job and is willing to do home construction at a discounted rate.
This type of crime is on the rise in Massachusetts, according to a press release issued yesterday by the Quincy PD.
To read the press release in its entirety, click the document below.