A 24-year-old from Brooklyn, NY was sentenced in Montgomery County Circuit Court to 10 years in prison, with all but 26 months suspended, for involvement in a theft scheme targeting elderly victims in Bethesda, after pleading guilty to conspiracy and attempted theft charges.
According to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office, “In the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, MD, the Honorable Jeannie Cho has sentenced defendant Yongxian Huang, 24, of Brooklyn, NY, to ten years in prison, suspending all but 18 months to serve and five years of supervised probation upon release. Huang also agreed to waive credit for the 239 days he’s already served. This equates to an executed sentence of 26 months in jail.
The sentencing hearing was held Friday, July 11, 2025. On June 24, 2025, Huang pleaded guilty to all counts of his indictment:
- Conspiracy to commit theft over $25,000 to under $100,000
- Attempted theft over $25,000 to under $100,000
- Theft over $100
On November 14, 2024, Huang picked up a box from the Bethesda home of a married couple, both of whom were 75 years old. The box contained $397 worth of replica gold bars. Huang believed that the bars were authentic, with a value of $84,290.20. The victims had reached out to Montgomery County Police and reported they believed they were being scammed. They previously handed over more than $400,000 worth of gold bars to co-conspirators. Detectives with the Financial Crimes Section coordinated the hand-off with Huang. An undercover detective posed as one of the victims and handed him the replica bars. Huang then drove to Brooklyn, NY, where he was ultimately arrested…