Editor’s note: the Gazette is not naming the suspect as he has not been charged yet – MD
Sequim Police Department reports they’re investigating the theft of more than $100,000 through a local jewelry and coin business.
At about 9:15 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29, officers with Sequim Police Department and with the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET) served a search warrant at Gold Rush Jewelry and Coin, 425 E. Washington St. Suite 3.
They arrested a suspect but released him as he declined an interview, but officers’ investigation remains ongoing, Sequim Police Chief Mike Hill said.
The suspect was not booked into Clallam County Jail and had not been charged as of Monday, Sept. 2.
Following a complete investigation, Hill said they will likely send multiple charges to the Clallam County Prosecutor’s Office for unlawful issuance of checks of drafts (more than $750), theft in the second degree, and theft in the first degree.
Hill said he didn’t have a specific timeline for the charges going forward.
“It’s a rather large case because of the number of victims and the amount of money we’re dealing with,” Hill said.
Officers have been investigating the suspect for several months after multiple reports of customers selling, buying, or consigning precious metals to the suspect and being paid by him either in full or in part, and that checks allegedly had insufficient funds.
Hill said that 19 alleged victims report they were left without their precious metals or the money owed by the suspect with the 19th victim coming forward to officers while they were conducting the search warrant.
“We’ve actually talked to him about earlier cases and now it’s snowballed and has became more frequent,” he said.
The suspect does not have a business license in the City of Sequim, and Hill said he had been operating without one for several months, police report.
The criminal investigation is a separate process from operating illegally but he could be fined and/or face a possible misdemeanor crime if he continues to operate without a license, Hill said.
Alleged theft of this magnitude is rare in the city, Hill said, as Sequim Police investigations tend to focus on financial exploitation of individual elders.
