Kittitas County Man Allegedly Scammed For $33K In Silver Coins

A Florida man is facing possible theft charges after allegedly swindling a Kittitas County man out of $33,000 in precious coins.

Prosecutors say the owner of New York-based Wall Street Metals, 64-year-old Phopinder Pannu of Jensen Beach, posed as a man named "John Harris" and asked the victim to ship 900 silver coins to Delaware Depository where they would be safely held before being sold for market value.

Court documents indicate the victim told police that after he'd mailed the coins, "Harris" told him to wait for them to accrue in value, but after two years he needed the proceeds from their sale to pay medical bills.

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Investigators say that's when "Harris" stopped answering the victim's calls and blocked his phone number, and that he also hung up on the victim when he used a friend's cellphone to call "Harris".

The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office and the FBI say it was later discovered that Wall Street Metals was a virtual tenant with no physical office or employees, and that "Harris" was actually Pannu, after his telephone number was traced to another business in Grass Valley, Calif. called Cash for Any Coins.

It was subsequently learned that Pannu had been accused of scamming at least three other people out between $5,000-$10,000, but no formal investigations were being conducted due to the stolen amounts in question being too low.

Pannu was scheduled for arraignment in Kittitas County Superior Court this week, but failed to show up. He had been ordered to appear through a summons issued on Nov. 4, but police are still trying to locate him.