BOSTON, July 20, 2017— A Dorchester man faces arraignment tomorrow on a 34-count indictment after a fraud investigation developed evidence of larceny, money laundering, and possession of child pornography, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
JOHN WILSON (D.O.B. 12/15/67) of Dorchester is expected to be arraigned tomorrow in Suffolk Superior Court on the indictments returned June 29 by a Suffolk County Grand Jury. The indictments charge Wilson with:
- Ten counts of larceny over $250 by single scheme,
- Eight counts of receiving stolen property over $250,
- Seven counts of attempting to commit a crime (to wit: Receiving stolen property over $250),
- Three counts of money laundering,
- Three counts of conspiracy to receive stolen property over $250,
- Two counts of uttering, and
- One count of possession of child pornography.
Prosecutors say Wilson allegedly used the personal identifying information of three customers of an Ohio-based bank in order to cause the bank to issue checks to Wilson and to a shell company he operated during August of 2015. He additionally attempted to make wire transfers from two of those accounts totaling $78,967 but was blocked from doing so. An IP address used during these transactions was linked to Wilson.
In addition, a fraudulent check of $1,000 issued on the account of an Idaho fire department was deposited into Wilson’s account that same month, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege that Wilson also fraudulently obtained 16 business credit cards during 2016. He allegedly posed as the accountholders on business credit accounts and requested that new cards be issued in the name of Wilson, who was identified in the requests as a new employee. Ten of the 16 cards were then used to make cash advances totaling $303,700. Most of the proceeds were wired to individuals in Turkey and Ghana.
In 2015, Wilson allegedly took part in a scheme to file fraudulent tax returns in the names of taxpayers without their consent. As a result of these fraudulent returns, the Internal Revenue Service issued a total of $72,750 in refunds, all of which were deposited into bank accounts held by Wilson.
Wilson was contacted in September 2015 by his bank regarding a fraudulently issued check that had been deposited into his account. He allegedly claimed he had cashed the check for an overseas business associate. A week later, Wilson contacted Suffolk prosecutors and made statements that he deposited the funds at the request of an individual with whom he had an online dating relationship. Though he offered to send text messages and other evidence of this to prosecutors, he never did.
During the course of the investigation by Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors, Wilson consented to a search of his cell phone on Oct. 3, 2016. The device was found to contain a video depicting explicit sexual images of children, prosecutors said.
The grand jury proceedings resulting in indictments against Wilson were led by Assistant District Attorney George Barker of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit. Arraignment is expected tomorrow in the Magistrate’s Session of Suffolk Superior Court.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
