Three men are arrested in Kinnelon for alleged Canadian Maple Leaf gold coin scam
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/a_canadian_maple_leaf_gold.html
Three men are arrested in Kinnelon for alleged Canadian Maple Leaf gold coin
scam
By Rohan Mascarenhas
September 21, 2009, 5:52AM
A Canadian Maple Leaf gold coin goes for about $1,000,
but three con artists used one to take in more than
$1 million from jewelry stores across the state,
authorities said.
The three suspects - David Bell, 57, of Newark,
William Gary, 52, of Scotch Plains and Hakim Shaheed,
55, of Sicklerville - used the ploy in at least seven
stores from Passaic to Vineland during the past year,
said Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi.
The trail ended Saturday in Kinnelon.
Bianchi said the three were arrested in the Morris
County borough after a five-month investigation.
Four days after the men tried the con there, the
prosecutor said, authorities who had them under
surveillance arrested them after they drove into
the Meadtown Shopping Plaza.
The scam began like a normal business transaction,
using a gold coin and a series of psychological
tricks to cheat store owners, police said. A
would-be swindler would walk into a store with a
genuine 1-ounce Canadian Maple Leaf gold coin
and, claiming to have recently inherited more,
offered to sell them for cash.
Leaving the coin to be authenticated overnight,
the con artist also gave a telephone number. But
on the day of the sale, the owner would receive
counterfeit coins after paying real money.
Bianchi said that in addition to Kinnelon,
Passaic and Vineland, the men used the trick in
Dover, Phillipsburg, Rockaway and Red Bank.
In a way, the unusual ruse became a victim of
its own success.
Morris County investigators and other authorities
compared notes and warned jewelry stores
throughout the state, Bianchi said. Undercover
officers also were sent to stores where the con
was in progress.
If the owners became suspicious and wanted to
test all the coins, the suspects produced a
handgun and demanded cash, Bianchi said.
No injuries were reported from the robberies,
said Capt. Jeffrey Paul, Bianchi's spokesman.
When the suspects were arrested Saturday,
police recovered more than 200 counterfeit
gold coins in their vehicle as well as items
from jewelry stores in New York and Maryland,
Bianchi said.
The men were charged with theft by deception
and conspiracy and were being held in Morris
County Correctional Facility in lieu of bail.
It is unclear whether there are other members
of the theft ring, Bianchi said. The
investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information about the crimes is
asked to contact Detective Dan Coleman of
the Morris County Prosecutor's Office at
(973) 285-6366.
..