Police arrested a man suspected of taking a Bethesda, Maryland, couple for $400,000 in a gold bar scam.

A text message reading “Contact us about an unauthorized charge on your Apple account” led the couple down a scam rabbit hole, police said. They were led to believe they were talking by phone to real Apple employees and eventually, according to police, they spoke with 23-year-old Yongxian Huang, who allegedly pretended to be an employee of the Federal Trade Commission. 

The couple was told their money had been compromised by criminals and needed to be converted to gold and put into government safekeeping to keep it from being used to make child pornography and purchase missiles for Russia, police said. 

They were convinced to give two purchases of gold bars worth more than $367,000, as well as a wire transfer of more than $41,000, investigators said.

“If you get these messages, you are not required to answer the phone,” Montgomery County Police Detective Sean Petty said. “You aren’t required to click that message and give your information away.”

With the victims’ help, detectives coordinated a final drop of $81,000 in gold bars on Nov. 14. Huang accepted the package from a detective pretending to be the female victim, police said.

Investigators followed him up Interstate 95 to his home in Brooklyn, New York, where New York Police Department detectives arrested him.

He awaits extradition to Maryland, as does 26-year-old Yash Shah, arrested this week in Baldwin, New York.

Shah’s accused of scamming an 88-year-old Montgomery County woman and her 61-year-old daughter out of $2.3 million in a similar scheme in 2023.

Recovery is almost impossible.

The fact this keeps happening despite extensive news coverage means families should consider it a table topic when they get together for the holidays, Petty said.

“This can easily be a 5, 10-minute conversation just checking in with your loved ones, your aging individuals, making sure that they’re not getting these phone calls, these text messages, and responding positively to them,” he said.

Montgomery County police worked with the Baltimore Field Office of the FBI on this case.

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Sunset Road is the name of a slice of pavement that cuts up the flank of Red Mountain, in southeast Washington wine country. It’s also where a new queer rom-com, also called “Sunset Road,” was shot.

In the first scene, Etta Campbell, played by the film’s director, Janet Krupin, is found on the roadside talking to a friend working in New York.  

Sam Work Bestie: “Remind me where are you now?” 

Etta Campbell: “Washington.”

Sam Work Bestie: “D.C.?”

Etta Campbell: “State.”

Sam Work Bestie: “Oh, Seattle?” 

Etta Campbell: “Nope. Three and half hours southeast. It’s Washington wine country I guess?”

The film is based on the plot of “Romeo and Juliet.” 

Instead of the Capulets and Montagues, the warring families are upset with wine and what to top it with – corks or screw tops. They have it out at a popular Richland restaurant, called Fiction. 

Papa Campbell: “Maybe one of you could tell me why you prefer screw tops over natural cork? I’ve always wondered what in the world you’d …”

Oryn Montgomery: “How about them Mariners?” 

Mama Montgomery: “Screwtops are wonderful; they’re the wave of the future.” 

Spoiler alert: No one dies in this rom-com.  

Director Krupin was raised in the Tri-Cities, and moved to New York City.

She was on Broadway, and side-hustled hosting gigs. 

“Like, I was loving it,” Krupin said. “Doing the acting thing.” 

But, then came the pandemic.

“I think it was Friday the 13th, I will never forget it,” Krupin said. “They shut down Broadway and then they shut down the restaurants, and those were my two forms of income.” 

She moved back home to the Tri-Cities. She worked at Hightower Cellars during the pandemic. 

And her comedy was born. 

Krupin plays the Juliet-inspired character who falls in love with the warring family’s daughter. Under the string lights of her real-life parents’ house, the pair sip a rosé called “Any Other Name.” 

Oryn Montgomery: “Great body.”

Etta Campbell: “Why, thank you.”

Oryn Montgomery: “[laugh] The wine.” 

Etta Campbell: “Well, maybe you can tell me what a wine having body even means?”

Oryn Montgomery: “Body is how heavy or thin it feels in the mouth. Uh, this has a silky but substantial mouth feel.” 

This “queer romp” is set amid conservative agriculture, east of the Cascades. 

 Traci Gillig is an assistant professor at Washington State University. She studies gender, health and media. (Courtesy: Traci Gillig)

Traci Gillig is an assistant professor at Washington State University. She studies gender and media. She said this film doesn’t spotlight hardships for queer people – a rarity. 

“And I think also that a lot of what was seen in the past was sort of struggles,” Gillig said, “not that we need necessarily more media representations of those, that sort of space people are living in now.” 

The film cast many local actors and business people. Kelly Hightower co-owns a winery featured in the film. She said unlike the warring families in the new film, they use both cork and screw tops.

“When I first saw the movie it made me laugh out loud … It was just so funny,” Hightower said. “I mean actual quotes that actually happened here at the winery.” 

Tim and Kelly Hightower sit with Janet Krupin at Hightower Cellars on Red Mountain, which was featured in “Sunset Road.” (Credit: Anna King / NWPB)

The music from the film is recorded by Krupin’s sister, Halley Greg. “Sunset Road” is now on Amazon Prime Video.

* Kyle Norris contributed to this report. 

The Cougars suffered just their second loss of the year last weekend against New Mexico and, by many accounts, it was a shocker. Ranked well within the Top 25 and playing a team with a losing record, albeit on the road, WSU was expected to win. Now at 8-2 Jake Dickert’s squad is tasked with bouncing back and they might have the perfect opportunity to do just that against an Oregon State unit that has been in a tailspin as of late.

Here’s what Washington State needs to do on Saturday to avoid a second straight defeat and get back on the right track.

Move Past Last Week

First and foremost, the Cougs need to forget the loss last weekend. The New Mexico debacle is over and done with, and it ought to be treated as such. Dwelling on the misfortunes that plagued them a week ago will only spell bad news against an Oregon State squad that is desperately looking to salvage whatever it can from a season. If WSU comes into this one and lets that loss give them a disadvantage in any aspect, that might be all OSU needs to get a leg up. Essentially, they can’t let the Lobos beat them twice.

In order to mentally rebound from the toll of their second loss the best thing for WSU might be to get back to the basics in all phases of the game. The offense needs to rediscover and reaffirm what has made it so competitive all year. The defense has to wash their collective minds of the poor showing in Albuquerque. If Dickert can get the team back to what they were before last week… and there’s no reason to believer he can’t… they’ll be just fine.

Tackle, Tackle, Tackle

It’s no secret that one of the main issues last weekend for the Cougars was an inability to bring ball carriers down. Some of that can be blamed on the dynamic play of Deveon Dampier but a lot of it can be attributed to not wrapping up and failing to be sound in their tackles across the board. A repeat of that showing against Beavers playmakers such as Anthony Hankerson or Trent Walker could again yield some ugly results.

Fortunately for Washington State, they have the right guys to fix those errors. Senior linebacker Kyle Thornton is one of the best out there when it comes to making stops. He has 53 tackles this season (36 solo) and has been the enforcer for the team in the middle of the field for several seasons. Redshirt Sophomore “Buddah” Al-Qudah is also excellent in this department with a team-leading 58 stops. If these two can do what they are best at and get everyone else to follow suit, the Cougs will find a lot more success this Saturday.

Keep the Chains Moving

A surefire way to keep OSU on its toes is to keep its defense tired and to do that, Washington State needs some long, sustained drives. Moving the sticks, especially on third down, will help that happen. The Beavers allow their opponents to convert 45% of the third downs they attempt and, while that rate is somewhat high, the Cougars should aim for much more than that. Getting the Oregon State defense fatigued will go a long way.

John Mateer and company need to make sure, when they do get into third down scenarios, that they are manageable. Positive pushes on early downs is a must. Whether it be Mateer running himself, completing short and high-percentage throws to his pass catchers or strong rushes from running back Wayshawn Parker, the offense needs to stay on schedule. Little things like this will make all the difference against a foe that is struggling.

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