A husband and wife are admitting they committed a long list of criminal charges tied to a rental fraud scheme across Worcester County, which was first exposed by an NBC10 Boston investigation.
Russell and Linda Callahan each pleaded guilty to 28 counts of larceny, forgery and fraud inside Worcester Superior Court on Wednesday.
A judge sentenced Russell Callahan to a two-year stint in the Worcester County Jail, while his wife, Linda, received a four-year probation term.
While announcing his sentence, Judge James Reardon said the husband and wife both deserved time behind bars. However, he gave Linda Callahan leniency, citing the medical care she is receiving for a serious health issue.
“Morally and ethically, [Linda] should be confined in jail or prison for some period of time,” Reardon said. “This was a well-thought out, well-organized, well-planned scheme carried out over some period of time.”
The Callahans were the focus of a 2024 investigation, which exposed the tactics used by “professional tenants” in Massachusetts. The couple used deception to get into rental properties, refused to pay rent, then moved on to the next victim after property owners eventually won evictions in housing court.
Our investigation found the Callahans have been evicted more than 20 times in Massachusetts and Florida, with unpaid rent judgements surpassing $100,000.
Victims included a single mom, a couple saving to have children and a veteran who was overseas during his first deployment with the Navy.
The Callahans enjoyed the free ride for two decades, but that changed in the wake of the NBC10 investigation.
Police arrested the couple last summer after a grand jury indictment. The criminal charges stemmed from two recent eviction cases.
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One situation involved Sitanshu Sinha and his wife, Shilpi. The Shrewsbury couple rented their home in 2023 after getting a stack of fake paperwork like a credit report, background check and pay stubs. The documents had the last name listed as “O’Callagham” so the couple could avoid detection.
After the rent checks bounced, the family spent months trying to get an eviction, which drained $30,000 from saving meant for their two kids’ college funds.
Aside from lost rent, landlords told NBC10 they also had to spend thousands of dollars on legal fees and moving costs during the lengthy process.
Doug Quattrochi is the executive director of Mass Landlords, which advocates for better housing in the Commonwealth.
Quattrochi first spoke with NBC10 about “professional tenants” in 2024 and estimates there are roughly 200 other less-prolific examples of people using the same tactics to take advantage of the system.
The NBC10 investigation uncovered that the Callahans got away with the scheme for so long because authorities viewed the crimes as “housing court matters.”
Have a tip for the NBC10 Investigators? Email us at boston.tips@nbcuni.com.
“It took an independent investigation by yourself to actually get this on somebody’s radar and get it fixed,” Quattrochi said. “It shows how far housing policy has gone off the rails in Massachusetts because we really give folks so much opportunity here that it allows for them to abuse the system time and again.”
Linda Callahan’s probation terms include getting a mental health evaluation and any recommended treatment. Outside of court on Wednesday, she did not answer any of our questions.
Once Russell Callahan gets out of jail, there will be a hearing to determine how much restitution the couple will pay to victims.
Hayk Hovhannisyan, a landlord who spoke with NBC10 in 2024, is now getting half of his wish to come true.
“Hopefully, they’ll end up in some nice jail,” Hovhannisyan said at the time. “Free housing. That’s what they are looking for, right?”
