Scam artist Raphael Holoman-Franklin, who bilked several Cambridge residents out of thousands of dollars in 2008 via rent scams, is back in Cambridge.

Cambridge victim Clifford Truesdell, owner of 29 Essex St. who lost about $6,000 to Holoman-Franklin via rent scamming, contacted and warned Trinity Church, Boston, as Raphael told people that he worked for Trinity. (This was later found to be yet another lie. He actually received checks from Trinity as a "deserving poor person", and a letter from Trinity re: their loss to this fraud is posted elsewhere.)

"From: Clifford A. Truesdell
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 1:03 PM
To: Lori Bollinger
Subject: Raphael Holoman-Franklin

I sent the below email to Reverend Bonnyman, got her out-of-office auto reply, and (as she will not be back until June 23, and the matter might be of some urgency) am sending it also to you:

Raphael Holoman-Franklin, who has just been expelled from Saint Bede Abbey in Peru , Illinois , where he was pretending to be a postulant, may be returning to the Boston area. He was expelled when the abbot --with help from some 11 of Holoman-Franklin's victims-- came to realize that Holoman-Franklin is a liar, thief and conman. His essential m.o. is to obtain actual or apparent possession of an apartment, rent it out to roommates or subtenants, collect rent, last-in-advance, security deposits and ultilities payments from them, and disappear with the money. He pulled this in 2007 in New York , and (twice) in Cambridge in 2008. For an extensive account of his career, see http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/rhf52.

I am writing to give you a heads-up, lest Holoman-Franklin use his Trinity Church connections as a springboard for new scams. An important part of his approach is a feigned religiosity --though the religion can vary, Episcopalian in Cambridge , Roman Catholic in Illinois , Mormon in New York .

His other local Episcopal venue, Saint Peter's in Cambridge , is already aware of what he is."

"From: Lori Bollinger
Subject: RE: Raphael Holoman-Franklin
To: "Clifford A. Truesdell"
Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 11:30 AM

Dear Mr. Truesdell,

Thank you for this notice. It was sent to all our clergy.
We are grateful for your advice.

Lori Bollinger

Executive Assistant to the Rector"