After the arraignment last week of a 55-year-old man alleged to have collected more than $70,000 of a late Haverhill man’s state pension, a family member said she has been “fighting for justice since 2019.”
The family member told WHAV former UMass Lowell student Jeffrey Nazarian had been living in his late college professor’s Haverhill home. Nazarian was arraigned in Salem Superior Court last Thursday for allegedly collecting John G. Hamer’s state pension. Nazarian is charged with two counts of forgery, larceny over $1,200 by a single scheme, perjury and uttering.
According to a press release, the charges come as a result of a joint investigation by the offices of Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro and Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. Nazarian was indicted late last month by an Essex County grand jury. According to the release, the investigation found that between Jan. 31, 2019 and June 31, 2020, Nazarian received more than $70,000 in state pension payments after the death of his former professor and friend.
The indictment alleges that following Hamer’s death Jan. 30, 2019, Nazarian accessed Hamer’s personal bank account and used Hamer’s pension benefits to pay credit cards balances. The indictment also alleges that Nazarian forged Hamer’s signature on nine checks drawn on that bank account and forged Hamer’s signature on a state retirement board form attesting the deceased professor was still alive and eligible to continue receiving pension payments.
According to city records, Hamer lived at 38 Germain Ave., Haverhill.