ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Clad in the classic Texas-style sheriff’s hat, Jim Skinner did his best to look tough as he talked about the series of jewelry store takedowns that broke up an alleged national crime ring.
He couldn’t help but crack a smile or two as he lauded the efforts of his deputies, who had been working behind the scenes for the better part of a year to make the arrests that put the spotlight on him.
“It’s just like a snowball, you know?” he asked, rhetorically. “It continues to grow no matter where we look what rock we looked under.”
Skinner said a tip in early 2025 led them to begin investigating the scam ring that spanned the world.
Elderly victims would get called, he said, and the scammers – posing as federal agents -- told their money wasn’t safe.
The scammers would advise them to take their life savings and convert it into gold bars. The scammers then dispatched couriers to “escort” the gold to a safe location for “safekeeping.”
Those locations were refineries and jewelry stores in Texas, Atlanta and Altamonte Springs, which would melt the gold down, combine it with legally acquired gold and create jewelry that could be sold – and would remain untraceable.
“We know that in Texas, we’ve lost $74.5 million,” Skinner said, adding that individuals in other states like Indiana had more than $1 million taken from them apiece.
Two men in charge of the Altamonte Springs store, Orlando Gold Refinery, will remain in jail for at least one more night. The lawyer didn’t have much to say on behalf of Timothy O’Dell, of Longwood, and John Timmerman, of Ocoee, adding that he was still trying to figure out the details of the accusations.
At Orlando Gold Refinery, which closed on Thursday, customers and employees reacted with shock to the news.
“I guess I don’t have a job now,” one visibly stunned worker said, who stopped by because they couldn’t believe the news, and said they never noticed anything suspicious about the people who came to the store.
They mentioned one customer would meet with the owners and bring in large amounts of gold, but the worker said nothing else about them stood out.
“I can’t say nothing bad about it,” Charles Periet, who sold coins off- and on over the years to the store, said. He said he rarely interacted with the two men.
Investigators did not specify how much cash or gold was taken from the Altamonte location. They said $150 million had been seized between the three stores -- $100 million of which came from Atlanta and Altamonte.
19 people were in custody as of Thursday, Skinner said, including O’Dell and Timmerman.
The good news, he explained, is that most Texas victims were able to recover their money – and based on the amount seized, more victims would at least be able to get something back.
He advised people who thought they were victims to contact their local sheriff or police chief to connect them with Texas authorities, who would work to determine whether they were targeted by this group of scammers or by a different group.
“It’s just shocking to see the number of people and the locations across the United States,” Skinner said.
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