Last August, Willis Point police officers pulled over two men for following another vehicle too closely while driving on I-20.
Upon a search of the vehicle, the officers found 19 gold bars worth approximately $250,000.
Van Zandt County District Attorney Tonya Curry initially wanted to pursue a money laundering case against the men, but she was unable to make the case against them.
She told WFAA, “We have to be able to prove what that criminal activity was, in other words how they got the money that they laundered. A lot of times that's hard when your case starts with a traffic stop.”
Curry added that while she initially suspected the gold bars were proceeds from illegal drug activity, she now suspects it may be from a group "that defrauds the elderly with investment-type scams."
The two men, Weijian Chen, 25, and Wenqiang Lin, 46, were taken into federal custody, but Curry believes the individuals were just mules in any illicit activity and not the masterminds behind it.
Van Zandt County reached a civil settlement in the case last month. Both of the men’s lawyers received 12 ounces of the gold as payment, with the county planning to sell the rest, which amounts to around $195,000 worth of gold.
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