Waterville, ME man pleads guilty to selling counterfeit coins
Goldbully
Posts: 17,948 ✭✭✭✭✭
Bet there are a lot of guys doing this. I like that this jerk could be jailed for up to 15 years.
Waterville man pleads guilty to selling counterfeit coins
Mwashuma M. Sithole ordered the fakes online and pawned them as the real thing in central Maine.
A Waterville man pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to charges of selling counterfeit coins in several central Maine communities, authorities said.
Mwashuma M. Sithole, 31, faces up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and possible restitution, according to a news release from United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II.
Sithole began ordering counterfeit Morgan dollars on the Internet in May 2014, according to the release, and over the next several months he placed orders online for items that looked like genuine Morgan dollar coins, which were minted from 1878 to 1904 and then again in 1921 and were named after their designer, United States Mint Assistant Engraver George T. Morgan.
The coins that Sithole ordered and received, at about $2 each, resembled genuine Morgan dollars in appearance, design and weight, but were offered online as counterfeit and made in China, according to the release.
Sithole sold and pawned several counterfeit Morgan dollars in 2014 in Augusta, Newport, Farmington, Lewiston and South Portland, telling buyers the coins were real. Police executed a search warrant at Sithole’s home on Jan. 22, 2015, seizing some 1,200 counterfeit Morgan coins, according to the release.
Authorities said Sithole had to forfeit all the coins seized from him. He will be sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
The investigation was conducted jointly by the police departments in the communities where coins were sold, the Maine State Police and the United States Secret Service.
Portland Press Herald Link
Waterville man pleads guilty to selling counterfeit coins
Mwashuma M. Sithole ordered the fakes online and pawned them as the real thing in central Maine.
A Waterville man pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to charges of selling counterfeit coins in several central Maine communities, authorities said.
Mwashuma M. Sithole, 31, faces up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and possible restitution, according to a news release from United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II.
Sithole began ordering counterfeit Morgan dollars on the Internet in May 2014, according to the release, and over the next several months he placed orders online for items that looked like genuine Morgan dollar coins, which were minted from 1878 to 1904 and then again in 1921 and were named after their designer, United States Mint Assistant Engraver George T. Morgan.
The coins that Sithole ordered and received, at about $2 each, resembled genuine Morgan dollars in appearance, design and weight, but were offered online as counterfeit and made in China, according to the release.
Sithole sold and pawned several counterfeit Morgan dollars in 2014 in Augusta, Newport, Farmington, Lewiston and South Portland, telling buyers the coins were real. Police executed a search warrant at Sithole’s home on Jan. 22, 2015, seizing some 1,200 counterfeit Morgan coins, according to the release.
Authorities said Sithole had to forfeit all the coins seized from him. He will be sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
The investigation was conducted jointly by the police departments in the communities where coins were sold, the Maine State Police and the United States Secret Service.
Portland Press Herald Link
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Comments
WHAT? This guy needs a new lawyer. This never happens.
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
I'm glad they are involved, but I don't understand their jurisdiction.
And if you pronounce it correctly, his name is soooo appropriate.
Please give him a nice long sentence. Someone needs to send a message.
bob
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Crook's last name needs just one more letter.
HAHA! I was thinking the same
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minor person
let me know when the major players in the fake coin market are caught and sent to prison
Coins for Sale: Both Graded and Ungraded
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oqym2YtcS7ZAZ73D6
yawn
minor person
let me know when the major players in the fake coin market are caught and sent to prison
Why did you even bother to post such drivel?
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
That is funny...and correct.....glad to see even these low level crooks are being nailed.
With the inventory at his home though, it seems he planned on expanding the racket.
Cheers, RickO
Interesting. I live here in Maine, about an hour's drive south of Waterville, and I like to think that I know a little about the numismatic scene in Maine, yet I had not heard that story before. Maybe it's because I didn't collect Morgans, real or otherwise. Thank you for posting that.
The article says he "sold and pawned" the fakes. . . . I suspect he did a lot more pawning than selling to collectors or professional coin dealers. Hopefully the counterfeits ended up sitting in pawn-shop inventories rather than being filtered into the hobby community or among unsuspecting casual collectors. I can imagine a pawnshop owner buying a couple hundred of them at a cut-rate price ($10 each or whatever), quickly learning they're fake when he tries to resell them, and going to the police.
Crook's last name needs just one more letter.
That is exactly what I was thinking Rich!
I would like to buy a vowel...can I have an "H"?
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Interesting. I live here in Maine, about an hour's drive south of Waterville, and I like to think that I know a little about the numismatic scene in Maine, yet I had not heard that story before. Maybe it's because I didn't collect Morgans, real or otherwise. Thank you for posting that.
The article says he "sold and pawned" the fakes. . . . I suspect he did a lot more pawning than selling to collectors or professional coin dealers. Hopefully the counterfeits ended up sitting in pawn-shop inventories rather than being filtered into the hobby community or among unsuspecting casual collectors. I can imagine a pawnshop owner buying a couple hundred of them at a cut-rate price ($10 each or whatever), quickly learning they're fake when he tries to resell them, and going to the police.
That's about the only way Law Enforcement gets off their duff. Bulk sales usually hit their benchmark were smaller ones don't.