Women say they fell victim to swindler

PORTLAND – A 37-year-old Portland man named John F. Kennedy is in trouble with the law for allegedly conning a series of women out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Kennedy, who faces a string of felony theft charges, pleaded innocent Tuesday at his Superior Court arraignment on a charge of stealing more than $30,000 from a Freeport woman by forging checks he stole from her house. He is being held in the Cumberland County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Prosecutors say Kennedy, who pretended to be a successful lawyer, charmed his victims into lending him large sums of money that he never intended to repay.

Kennedy declined to be interviewed. His lawyer, J.P. DeGrinney, said failure to pay back a loan is usually not treated as a crime, and “there are explanations” for his client’s behavior.

At the time of the alleged thefts, Kennedy already faced charges of stealing more than $50,000 from six different women in Portland.

Prosecutors say they plan additional charges because more victims have come forward since Kennedy’s arrest last month.

One woman eager for justice is Kim McMillion, who described how Kennedy met her during a night out in Portland’s Old Port. She said he wooed her, talked with her for hours a day on the phone, always called her “darling” and went on to con her out of $4,500.

“I felt this feeling of betrayal . . . of what a sucker I was,” said McMillion, a former Portland-area resident who now works as an investment adviser in Missouri. “I couldn’t even focus on making dinner for my children because all I could think of was revenge.”

While she doubts she will ever get her money back, McMillion hopes to see Kennedy behind bars. She even looks forward to meeting some of his other alleged victims. “We’re going to have a big JFK-is-going-to-prison party,” she said.

Kennedy had the tools for success and at times in his career pulled down a six-figure salary, though he is now indigent. His most recent job was a two-month stint at L.L. Bean’s warehouse, according to court records.

He was a talented worker, recalled Mary Lou Davis, who was his manager at Portland’s WGME-TV in the mid-1990s, before he was let go.

“He was a terrific salesperson,” said Davis, now working for a station in Albuquerque, N.M. “He did very well in TV and radio. The money he was making was pretty good for Portland, Maine.”

Davis said Kennedy conned her with a story about needing money because of a business deal with some shady characters who were threatening him. She said she loaned him $1,500 and has never gotten it back.

Kennedy’s story changed over the years, but the approach was similar, his alleged victims say. Initially, he would confide in co-workers about needing money to deal with a medical crisis or other tragic situation in his family.

He went from Portland to Chicago to Baltimore to Atlanta to Boston, according to former associates and police.

“He was funny, charming, entertaining. He immediately took to people, particularly the women. Even though he wasn’t much to look at, he charmed them,” said Tom Donlan, who worked with Kennedy in Chicago in 1999 when Kennedy had a southern Illinois sales territory for UnumProvident.

Most recently, he exuded wealth, driving fancy cars and staying in swanky hotels. When he was arrested on the Maine Turnpike after being tracked down by deputy U.S. marshals, he was driving a rented white Jaguar.