Dalton Police Seek Peddler of Fake Gold

The Dalton Police Department is asking for the public's help with identifying a man who swindled a Chattanooga jewelry business owner out of more than $6,000 by selling him fake gold jewelry.

It happened in February after the suspect met with the victim at the victim's business in Hamilton County. The suspect asked the victim, who has asked not to be identified, if his business bought gold jewelry. The victim said yes, but that he had no way to test the authenticity of the gold.

The victim told Dalton investigators that they later met in Dalton at the Wal-Mart on Shugart Road. The victim told investigators that he took the bag of gold jewelry to Southern Bullion in Bryman's Plaza for testing. The jewelry tested as 22K and 24K gold. When he met the suspect outside Southern Bullion, they agreed on a price and the victim told investigators he left to go to an ATM to get the remaining cash.

Apparently that's when the suspect "swapped" real gold for fake.

When the victim returned, he told investigators that he paid the suspect $6,900 and the two parted ways. The victim told investigators that he then went back inside Southern Bullion to sell the gold, and at that time the jewelry was re-tested and he was told that the gold was fake. At that point, the victim called police.

Investigators did find a surveillance image of the suspect that was taken by the security cameras at Wal-Mart. The suspect is a tall African-American male, who wore a red shirt with black pants and a black zipper front jacket. He has close-cropped black hair. If anyone has any information on this incident or the identity of the suspect, they're asked to please contact Detective Ricky Long at 706-278-9085, extension 168.