A second New York man now faces felony charges in a gold-bar scheme that police say took $683,000 in gold from a 78-year-old woman living at a Pennsylvania senior community. South Whitehall Township police announced on Sept. 16, 2026, that Tianhang Zhou had been charged alongside Jiwan Chen, 57, who was arrested in July while taking a package of gold outside the woman’s residence. Both men are due back in Lehigh County court for a formal arraignment on Oct. 16.
What police say happened at the senior community
According to WFMZ-TV’s account of the police and prosecutors’ statements, a South Whitehall Township officer was called on June 30 to EverTrue Luther Crest Senior Living on Hausman Road for a possible fraud involving a resident. A relative of the 78-year-old woman met the officer. The woman told investigators that several weeks earlier she had been contacted by people claiming to represent “American Bank,” who said her identity and Social Security number had been compromised and that her assets needed to be moved into a newly opened account.
She tried several times to wire money to that account, but her own financial institution rejected most of the attempts after determining the account was invalid, authorities said. The callers then changed tactics. They told her to buy gold bullion, pack it in a specific way and bring it to set locations once an “officer” was near the Allentown area, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, led by District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan.
The woman made four separate deliveries and handed about $550,000 in gold to various couriers, authorities said. Police then learned she was scheduled to buy and deliver another $133,000 in gold on July 1. Officers set up surveillance and watched her hand the package to a man later identified as Chen outside the senior living facility. Chen was taken into custody on the spot. Officials said Chen obtained a total of $683,000 in gold bars from the woman…