Two Sylacauga Residents Sentenced in Fake Gold Scheme

According to court documents and testimony, Rossie Windham, age 42, and Dylan Jemison, age 21, both of Sylacauga, conspired with a third individual who, due to his age at the time of the conspiracy, is identified only as Minor-1, to fraudulently sell counterfeit precious metals to victims in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

Starting around April 2023, the minor began advertising gold and silver coins and bars for sale on Facebook Marketplace.  According to the minor, he inherited these items from a relative and was selling them below market value because he wanted to buy a truck and put money towards college.  Between April and August 2023, Windham helped the minor sell these items by communicating with some of the victims to arrange sales and sometimes accompanying the minor to the location where the victim would pay cash for what the victim believed to be genuine precious metals.  On at least one occasion, Windham handled the fraudulent transaction himself.  Around August 2023, Windham stopped operating with the minor, who then recruited then-19-year-old Dylan Jemison into the scheme.  In October 2023, a victim in Foley, Alabama purchased counterfeit gold bars from Jemison and the minor.  After the victim determined that the gold bars were counterfeit and notified police, the Foley Police Department set up a sting operation to purchase more gold. Jemison was arrested when he attempted to sell more counterfeit gold to the victim, and a search of Jemison’s phone revealed the scale of the fraud scheme and the involvement of both the minor and Windham.

In total, Windham, Jemison, and the minor fraudulently obtained over $120,000 from victims.   Some of the victims were reimbursed by Windham during the course of the conspiracy. However, the court ordered both Windham and Jemison to pay $87,000.00 in restitution to seven victims who had not been reimbursed.  In addition to restitution, Windham and Jemison both agreed to forfeit their illicit proceeds to the United States.

The Foley Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case with special assistance from the Foley Coin Shop.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Bodnar prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.