California man a part of Montgomery County gold bar scam sentenced to 6.5 years in prison
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - A California man that plead guilty in October 2024 to a Montgomery County gold bar scam has been sentenced to 20 years in prison suspending all but 6.5 years.
California man pleads guilty to Maryland gold bar scam
A California man plead guilty Friday to a gold bar scam that stole nearly $800,000 from an elderly Montgomery County woman.
The scam that stole nearly $800000 from an elderly Montgomery County woman.
The suspect, Wenhui Sun, 35, of Lake Arbor, California, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, suspending all but 6.5 years to serve and five years of supervised probation upon release.
Sun is also ordered to pay $457,410.34 in restitution. The sentencing hearing was held on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
The backstory:
The victim in this case was a 64-year-old woman living in Leisure World, which is a senior living community for those ages 55 and older.
Over the course of several weeks, police said a man named Wenhui Sun of California posed as a federal investigator and convinced the woman to convert $800,000 worth of assets into gold bars to protect her from identity thieves.
He then had her deliver it to him in a Walgreens parking lot near Leisure World, posing as a federal courier and stealing the gold.
Eventually, a relative of the victim became aware and notified authorities, who set up a sting and arrested Sun, where he was allegedly set to collect another $376,000.
'Gold bar scam': Authorities warn of new con costing elderly victims millions
Investigators in Montgomery County say criminals have conned elderly victims out of millions of dollars by convincing them to convert their cash into gold bars.
"Just heartbreak for people, innocent people with good intentions who get taken and get taken in a really bad way," said Ron Lyons, a Leisure World resident.
This cash-to-gold scam has become such a nationwide issue that the FBI even put out flyers to warn people not to fall victim because, as wild as it sounds, people are getting conned and the numbers are staggering.