Criminal on the run from jail in Northern Ireland sentenced to prison in the USA over building con as part of 'Operation Take Back America'
An on-the-run criminal who fled from custody in Northern Ireland is now serving a jail term in the USA.
The American Department of Justice announced that Elijah Martin Gavin has been sent to prison for four years for joining a gang of travelling con artists after slipping illegally into the country.
He had fled Northern Ireland after being let out of HMP Magilligan in April 2022 on compassionate leave.
He had been awaiting trial in a fraud case in Belfast, in which he and co-defendants allegedly tricked a woman into thinking her home was about to be burgled, resulting in her handing over £40,000 to Gavin and his accomplices for supposed safekeeping.
It was said to be part of a wider criminal campaign targeting pensioners.
Gavin had yet to enter a plea at the time he absconded, aged 26.
However, he had previous convictions for burglary, drug possession, criminal damage, speeding, and grievous bodily harm.
The News Letter reported in February this year that he had turned up in America, where he was arrested as part of a probe into a “transnational organised crime group” that was scamming people out of money for building work that did not need to be done.
At that stage he was 29.
The Rhode Island branch of the US Attorney's Office stated at the time that "Gavin and his co-conspirators defrauded property owners in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York of over one million dollars".
Among the victims were a recently-widowed 78-year-old (who was defrauded of $850,000 for unnecessary foundation and basement repairs), as well as a church in New York.
The money was then transferred to a network of bank accounts controlled by co-conspirators who laundered it.
At one point, investigators showed the 78-year-old victim a News Letter article from 2022 about Gavin absconding, helping confirm his identity.
Gavin – who formerly had an address at Ollardale Park in Ballyclare – was discovered to have entered the USA on October 4, 2022 from Dublin.
He was arrested in New Jersey on January 29, 2025, and on June 12 he pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and to being responsible for a false statement on a document in order to gain entry into the United States (specifically, lying about his criminal record).
Now, the Rhode Island branch of the US District Attorney’s Office said he is sentenced to “48 months imprisonment, forfeiture of $4885.57, a forfeiture money judgment of $1,000,000, a restitution order of $1,109,500, and $300 in special assessments in one case, and one day imprisonment and a $100 special assessment in the other case, to run concurrently”.
It added: “The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, Rhode Island State Police, and US Diplomatic Security Service.
"This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”