Raymond Guan
The FBI and the TBI are investigating after a hit and run at Soddy Daisy revealed a major scam operation run out of California.
Two California men have been placed under $1 million cash bonds by Soddy Daisy Judge Marty Lasley, who said he wants to help an elderly Soddy Daisy man get his $1.3 million back.
Charged with theft over $250,000 are Raymond Guan, 42, and Ho Yin Li, 36.
Larry Cox, an 83-year-old veteran, said he received an email from the Federal Trade Commission and a Gary Wilson, said to be with the fraud department of his bank, First Horizon.
He said in early December he was told by "Wilson" that "I would be helping the government and the bank" by providing large sums of money that would be all returned to him on Jan. 10.
Mr. Cox said at a preliminary hearing in Soddy Daisy this week, "I didn't question it. At the time it felt real. I went over it and I couldn't find anything wrong with it."
He said the FCC letter "had all the decals and everything. It looked real."
Mr. Cox said he was asked to furnish large amounts of money, and it could not be paid by a check. He said he proceeded to withdraw large sums from the IRA of his wife, who is in a memory care facility.
He said he was first asked to convert the money to cryto currency, so he went to a gas station on Dayton Pike that has a crypto machine. He said he had $32,000 in cash (in $100 bills) with him.
But he said he had trouble figuring out how to feed the pile of cash into the machine, especially with two customers waiting behind him. So he finally gave up.
Mr. Cox said he was then asked to send the money in gold bars. He went to a store on Rossville Boulevard on three occasions, where he converted piles of cash for $85,000 gold bars. In one case he handed over seven bars, and in two other it was four bars to the scammers.
He said he was told that a secret agent named "Mike" would be coming to his house that night to pick up a box of the gold bars he had prepared. On all three occasions, there were passwords. One was Black Friday. He said the agents were always ready with the password.
Mr. Cox said he finally realized that "this isn't working. I don't feel good about this." He finally went to authorities and quit talking to "Wilson" who afterward called him 14 times in one day.
He said "Wilson" had "a thick accent." He said the agents who came to his door were Asian.
On Dec. 3, as the "agent" was leaving the Cox subdivision on Captains Cove Drive, there was a hit and run in which "Mike" was badly injured. "Mike" was later identified as Guan, and a second "agent" as Li.
Both Guan and Li were questioned by Soddy Daisy Police after the hit and run. At the time neither were theft suspects. However, the TBI was called in and they soon were defendants themselves.
Their story was they had stopped by the road to look at Christmas lights when a truck came along and struck Guan. They said the driver of the truck got out and took $3,000 to $5,000 from the injured Guan as well as the gold bars. They could give no identification of the driver and said they had no idea who was after them.
By the time Soddy Daisy Police got to the wreck scene, everyone was gone. A BOLO was put out for the rental car with Florida tags the two "agents" were in. Officer Eddie Richmond said he was sitting at Walgreens at 2 a.m. when the car came by. He stopped it and the men were then questioned.
He said he asked to take pictures of Guan's injuries, which included a lot of road rash and a puncture to the head. He said when Guan took off a bandage it showed "he had a hole down to the skull." Paramedics were summoned and Guan was taken to the hospital
A TBI special agent said his office was called by District Attorney Coty Wamp to investigate the incident. That was before anything was known about the theft.
Steven Brown, of the Public Defender's Office, asked, "Did you think it was unusual for General Wamp to call you to investigate a hit and run in Soddy Daisy?"
The agent said his interview started out with Guan as the victim, but ended with Guan and Li as suspects in the theft. He said, "Both admitted they knew they were doing something illegal."
He said they said they made such money collections for a man they knew as "Andy" in California. Guan said he made collections four times previously from different victims and Li had a couple of times. They admitted using passwords each visit.
The TBI agent said the FBI was able to get a photo of the man they believed to be "Andy" and Guan and Li said that was him.
Attorney John McDougal argued against the high bond, saying, "You don't even have million dollar cash bonds in murders."
Judge Lasley said, "I've got a guy who lost over a million bucks. We want this gentleman's money back."
He added, "Andy should have the cash - in gold bars."
Judge Lasley said the two defendants "were extremely vague on who hit them."
Larry Cox said he has not gotten any of his money back.
He said he was sworn to secrecy and did not tell his son and daughter he was taking the money out.
A video distributed on the Internet is said to be the incident in which Guan was hit and the driver got out of the truck and stole from him. Click here for video.
Ho Yin Li