Joshua S. Levy, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts
A Connecticut man has been sentenced for fraudulently obtaining and transporting gold coins outside of Massachusetts. William Dawson, 52, received a sentence of five years probation with one year of home confinement from U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman. He was also ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty in April 2024 to interstate transportation of property taken by fraud.
Dawson was arrested and charged in October 2023. He posed as a property buyer and reseller while dealing with Person-1, who operated a home cleanout business in Massachusetts. In December 2022, Person-1 found 170 Queen Elizabeth II Canadian Gold Maple Leaf Coins worth approximately $290,000 during a cleanout of a decedent estate's residence in Shrewsbury, Mass. With the estate's approval, Person-1 agreed to sell 120 coins to Dawson.
In January 2023, Dawson met Person-1 in Millbury and purchased the coins with two checks totaling $198,800 despite having insufficient funds in his bank account. Later that day, he falsely claimed the coins were stolen from his car. The following day, Dawson sold 43 coins at a pawn shop in Pawtucket, R.I., for $80,442 and later sold an additional 19 coins at another pawn shop in Cranston, R.I., for approximately $35,094.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Andrew Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service Boston Field Office. The Milford Police Department and Worcester County District Attorney’s Office provided valuable assistance in the case prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan O’Shea of the Worcester Branch Office.
