Con man with long record goes on whirlwind fraud tour of Cambridge, police say

Cambridge Police report the arrest of a New York City man on a variety of charges related to the high life he allegedly tried to settle into for a couple months at a Third Street apartment complex that included draining $70,000 from a local design company's coffers and using some of the funds to lease a BMW SUV across the river in Boston.

Police say it all started when Jeremy Daniel Wilson, if that's really his name, 42, created the best Boston-area persona since Clark Rockefeller: Jeremiah Asimov-Beckingham, an Army veteran with traumatic brain injuries from an IED explosion in Afghanistan - and also a pilot for British Airways. Cambridge Police say the earliest they could trace him back in Cambridge was December 3, which makes sense since he was only released from federal prison on Nov. 19 after serving a six-year sentence for impersonating an Army officer and stealing a judge's car.

In Cambridge, police say, the newly minted Asimov-Beckingham set up a local bank account under that name, using several fraudulent documents, including a bogus driver's license, Social-Security card and a Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. He then got a discount on an apartment on Third Street by claiming to be both a veteran and an airline pilot - even as he was maintaining a $5,000-a-month apartment in lower Manhattan. Oh, and he used his fake discharge papers to sign up for and obtain veteran's benefits, Cambridge PD says.

He also somehow used the ID and more forged documents to suck $70,000 out of a Cambridge design firm's bank account, police say, adding he also stole a computer from MIT.

On December 30, 2015, the Cambridge Police met with a Boston BMW dealership to investigate checks from the Cambridge bank that were issued to lease a 2016 BMW X3. Utilizing many of the same documents used with the bank, apartment, Veteran's Services, and a driver's license with the name Jeremiah Asimov-Beckingham, Wilson secured the lease with funds withdrawn from his fraudulent account. While at the dealership, detectives with the Cambridge Police received a call from the MIT Police, who became aware of the investigation of the suspect. They informed the Cambridge Police that the suspect was of interest following a larceny of MIT computer equipment. It was learned that fraudulent purchases were made with an MIT credit card number attached to the stolen computer. Among the items purchased: U.S. Army uniforms, medals, ribbons and awards.

Police say that on Dec. 31, New York City Police found the BMW. And then, according to New York Magazine, they conned the con man: They contacted him and said the car had been impounded as evidence in a shooting but that he could come by to pick it up - which he did.

At his arraignment in New York on similar charges there, he wore a Harvard Law School hoodie.

Innocent, etc.