News

BEAUMONT - By Megan Dillard

You work for decades, sometimes 10 hours a day, save up your hard-earned money, and if everything works out, retire to enjoy life and put aside some of the stress.

Law enforcement officers say a Jefferson county man victimized a woman who thought she was investing a quarter of a million dollars of her retirement money in legitimate company, only to learn that wasn't the case.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office needs your help in finding a man who cost an 82-year-old California woman her retirement.

Investigators say 26-year-old Bryson Cendejas ran a fake coin exchange company out of Nederland.

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By Doug Davis

Not long after opening for business Sunday morning, trouble was brewing inside Justice Coins in New Port Richey.

A customer, who was well-known to the shop's proprietor, had nefarious thoughts on his mind.

Wayne Justice had seen 25-year-old Jacob Scott Sanborn waiting outside just prior to the store opening. He had no idea what would happen next.

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by Mike Fuljenz

Owning gold coins and bullion is a smart way to protect your wealth in the event of a global crisis or even inflation. Gold is the only real money to withstand the test of 5,000 years.

But owning physical gold comes with a big challenge: keeping it!

Gold draws bad guys like honey draws flies. Criminals love to steal gold. It’s a large amount of value in a small, easy-to-conceal package. It’s relatively harder to trace and easier to sell these days.

With rising gold prices this century, gold thefts are on the rise with home invasions targeting gold becoming more dangerous, even deadly. In December 2011, two masked men broke into a home in Richmond, Texas, put a gun to a 12-year-old child’s head, and demanded to know where the valuables were. They made off with $500,000 in precious metals and cash, along with the family SUV. In February 2012, an elderly couple and their son in Gonzales, Louisiana, were viciously attacked by thieves who took a safe containing a collection of gold coins valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. All three victims died. The safe was found, empty.

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By Joshua Auzenne


GONZALES, LA (WAFB) - Two more people have been arrested in the brutal triple murder and gold coin theft in Gonzales. This makes a total of five people arrested.

The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office took Devon James, 24, and Bernard James, 25, into custody Wednesday morning in connection with the murders of Robert and Shirley Marchand and Shirley's son, Douglas Dooley.

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Ascension Sheriff's deputies have arrested three of four suspects wanted in the triple slaying in Gonzales Louisiana. The motive in the home invasion-robbery was apparently to steal rare gold and silver coins.

The coins in the case have not been recovered. One suspect was an ex-employee of Robert Marchand at his house moving business.

By Doug Davis
Numismatic Crime Information Center

The first of the year brought new changes in state and local laws dealing with precious metal buyers. The steps were taken not only to protect persons selling precious metals, but those who may have fallen victim to a robbery or theft that resulted in the loss of jewelry and other precious metals.

The new laws passed by many governmental entities is an effort to modernize record-keeping, require licensing and protect consumers against illegal and unethical dealers.

The State of Texas has already arrested some out of state gold buyers for not adhering to new state requirements that were effective Jan 1, 2012. The Texas Legislative committee heard from coin dealer Mike Fuljenz whose expertise was invaluable during the drafting of the new legislation.

All dealers should keep up to date with any new laws or changes in existing laws within their state related to the buying and selling of precious metals.