DA: Online Dating Scammer Albert Bellamy Lovering, Jr Stole Thousands

BOSTON -- A Waltham man is accused of stealing more than $200,000 from people he met on social dating websites.

Albert Bellamy Lovering, Jr., 54, was indicted by a Middlesex grand jury on 23 charges of larceny and being a common and notorious thief. He was arraigned in Middlesex District Court on Wednesday and held on $10,000 bail.

"These allegations are extremely troubling and the defendant's lies spanned several years, targeting numerous victims who were conned into believing the defendant cared for them. The defendant's cruel actions induced the victims to lend him many thousands of dollars, with the expectation he would repay them," Middlesex District Attoey Gerry Leone said.

Lovering met the first victim in November 2006 after they both placed dating ads on Yahoo.com, police said. They began communicating online and eventually met in person, after which they began seeing one another once or twice a week. Soon after meeting Lovering told the victim he had placed a bid on ebay on an item which he now had to purchase immediately.

The victim loaned the defendant $1,000, expecting that he would repay her, police said. It is alleged that Lovering told the victim he needed additional financial assistance for several purchases and that he needed her to also cosign a loan from which he would repay her, thereby consolidating his debts to her into a bank loan. When the loan was approved, he appropriated the loan funds for his own needs and gave her nothing, police said.

Lovering met the second victim in January 2008 through his personal ad on Craigslist looking for romance section. Shortly after meeting, Lovering told the victim that he had a financial hardship and was in need of money for an item he recently bid on ebay. The victim loaned the defendant $1,645 so he could complete his eBay purchase, and based upon his promise to repay shortly.

It is alleged that the defendant courted in order to induce her to lend him over $28,000 after claiming he needed urgent financial assistance, police said. While the victim never saw Lovering again, he continued to communicate with her electronically.

While continuing to profess his love for her, Lovering said that he had to be hospitalized in New Hampshire for a serious health condition, police said. He declined to identify the hospital and made clear he did not want her to visit him there. However, he made known to her that his HMO would not pay several of his medical bills and that the hospital would not release him until those bills were settled. Based on his need, her affection for him, and his promises of repayment, she sent a series of checks payable to him to a post office box he maintained in Weston, police said.

The second victim was led to believe that a friend would pick up his mail and bring her checks to him in New Hampshire for his signature. Police said Lovering portrayed himself as being held in New Hampshire hospitals over the course of several months, receiving treatment for various serious conditions, until the second victim had, in total, lent him over $70,000 and realized that he was not being truthful with her. The defendant has never repaid any of the second victim's loans, officials said.

It is alleged that the defendant invented a fictional character, a "Doug Spencer," to assist in his scheme to deceive the victim and to induce her to continue to lend money to help free Lovering from his hospitalization in New Hampshire. Bank records confirm that it was the defendant himself who cashed the victim's checks at a Weston branch of her bank which, it is alleged, contradicts his representations that he was unable to gain release from the New Hampshire hospital.

Lovering met a third victim between May and June 2008 through another ad on craigslist looking for romance section. The two exchanged e-mails, text messages and phone calls before meeting for dinner in late June. During dinner, it is alleged that the defendant told the victim the he owed the IRS money in back taxes and asked for a loan with the promise that he would repay her. The victim loaned Lovering $7,200 and never saw Lovering again. She left phone messages and e-mails asking for repayment until the defendant tued off his phone service, police said.

Lovering met the fourth victim online through PlentyofFish.com in December 2008. Lovering and the victim began an online relationship, met for drinks and agreed to see one another again, officials said. They continued communicating by text messages, e-mails and phone calls but never again met. It is alleged that Lovering led the victim to believe that he was romantically attached to her. It is also alleged that he also told her that he urgently needed a loan to pay back taxes to the Inteal Revenue Service. The victim gave Lovering two checks totaling $1,500 on the promise that she would be repaid, officials said.

In January 2009, Lovering is alleged to have told the fourth victim that he was hospitalized in New Hampshire. It is alleged that by pretending to be "Doug Spencer," he continued maintaining some contact with the victim while supposedly in the hospital, suffering from various and changing maladies and unable to get discharged unless and until all his medical bills were paid. To help him out, the victim repeatedly agreed to send money to him, through his Weston post office box, to be used to pay his mounting hospital bills. It is alleged that he stole over $100,000 from the victim based on his misrepresentations about being held in a medical facility in New Hampshire while, in truth and in fact, he was in Massachusetts and personally picking up and cashing the many checks victim four sent him to help him out of his plight, officials said.

His next court date is Sept. 16 for a pretrial conference.