Two detained, released after coin shop alarm sounds

Police activity outside a Menifee coin shop is seen through the window of a neighboring business Thursday morning. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Karrasch via Facebook

Two men who made their first trip to a Menifee coin shop attempting to sell some gold on Thursday might not be doing so again too soon.

An employee at Ed's Coin Shop in the 28000 block of Bradley Road pushed a silent alarm while the men were in the store, resulting in a large police presence. As witnesses at neighboring businesses and in the parking lot of the Cherry Hills Plaza in the Sun City Community watched, the men were confronted by officers with guns drawn.

After detaining the men, Riverside County Sheriff's deputies soon learned that they had not responded to an attempted robbery, but a possible case of fraud, said Deputy Mike Vasquez. But after talking to employees at two coin shops involved and investigating the gold in possession of the men, it was determined that no crime had occurred and the men were released.

One of the men, who identified himself as Lionel Bullard of Menifee, asked that his name be used in this article and his photo be shown (below) to "clear his name" and show others he and his companion had done nothing wrong.

"Me and my buddy invested in gold," said Bullard, still standing outside one of the coin shops as police left the scene. "The price is dropping, so it's time to get out until the price drops further, then we were going to buy back in. We were just coming to unload the gold.

"Next thing you know, we're having a conversation in the coin shop, alarms get pushed, we come out not knowing what's going on and have guns pointed at us. Luckily, we were calm enough to do what we had to do. The officers handled it the right way after they knew we were all good. It could've been a different scene."

According to Bullard, he first walked into the Sun City Coin Shop in the same shopping center with his companion -- a man from Hemet who asked not to be identified. After being given a price for the gold they offered for sale, the men then went next door to Ed Coin's to get a comparative price.

An employee at Ed Coin's shop, who asked not to be identified, said he believed the gold was counterfeit after looking at it and pressed the silent alarm, alerting police. According to Deputy Vasquez, any officers in the area quickly responded, including two special enforcement units, accounting for the large police response.

Bullard, who was confronted by officers with guns drawn as he left Ed's Coin Shop with the gold still in his possession, said he was forced to get down on all fours and crawl on the wet pavement until approached by police. His companion, who had returned to Sun City Coin Shop seconds earlier, complied and did the same.

The men were detained and briefly placed into the back of a squad car while deputies sorted things out. According to Vasquez, additional questioning of employees at Sun City Coin Shop led them to believe the gold was in fact real and no crime had occurred. The men were released.

Bullard, who said he invests in gold by buying it on the Internet, said he was still in shock by the reception he received in his first attempt to sell it.

"If people are in the business of buying gold and they know you're trying to sell it, why be so on edge about that?" he said, referring to the alarm set off at Ed's Coins. "It's not like we came in saying, 'You got any gold laying around?' or 'How much money you keep in here?' It was just, 'How much will you give me for my gold?'

"Imagine coming here for the first time and this is your experience. It will make you get out of the gold business fast. We've got no weapons, we didn't ask for anything. You had to press the alarm for that?"

Employees of the Sun City Coin Shop told Menifee 24/7 they determined the gold was real and they had verified the men's identity. They expressed their empathy to the men for what they went through. Meanwhile, the employee at Ed's Coins said that although he could've been mistaken and "might've overreacted," he truly believed the gold was counterfeit.

The employee said Ed Coin's was robbed just 10 days ago. And a year ago almost to the day, the coin shop was robbed by a Perris man who was apprehended after stealing two coins from the shop.

Lionel Bullard of Menifee holds the package containing gold he was attempting to sell at a local coin shop Thursday. Menifee 24/7 photo: Doug Spoon