Avon police reports detail alleged gold bar scam, sting operation that busted Michigan man

A Michigan man caught picking up a package containing fake gold as part of a joint police/FBI sting in Avon in August may have stolen nearly $1 million from multiple victims in multiple states, authorities said. The FBI told Avon police that Kevil S. Naik is believed to have picked up approximately $925,000 in cash and payments in multiple states using rental cars and a car apparently belonging to a female relative, according to Avon police reports reviewed by The Chronicle-Telegram. Naik, 28, of Battle Creek, Michigan, is free after posting bond Aug. 5 on charges of theft from a person in a protected class (elderly), tampering with evidence and possession of criminal tools, all felonies, filed against him in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. He is scheduled to be arraigned and have his first pretrial hearing Oct. 23 in Judge Giovanna Bremke's court. Avon police reports, obtained by The Chronicle through a public records request, laid out how the case started: An FBI agent contacted Avon police on July 20 to report that an elderly Bay Village resident had been scammed out of $164,000. It wasn't immediately clear who the alleged scammers were, who they claimed to be or how they convinced the woman to pay them. Of the amount the alleged victim lost, $134,000 was converted into gold bars and handed over to a suspect at the Walmart on Chester Road in Avon on the afternoon of July 15. The suspect vehicle was a gray Honda Odyssey minivan with a Wisconsin license plate. To trap them, the FBI continued communicating with the suspect from the alleged victim's phone and set up a second meeting at the Avon Walmart. Authorities found an elderly woman willing to pretend to be the victim, and the FBI got simulated gold "worth" $215,000 after agreeing to hand over that amount to the alleged scammer. A box with the fake gold in it also contained a GPS tracker and a device that would alert police if the package was opened. Officers, deputies and agents from the Avon and Bay Village police, the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol then staked out the Avon Walmart parking lot for the meeting, set to happen between 1 and 1:30 p.m. Aug. 4. The scammers had told the pretend victim the person picking up the gold would show up in a silver vehicle and give the code word "lasagna" to complete the transaction. Authorities watching the parking lot saw a silver Chevrolet Trax with Illinois license plates arrive, drive around the parking lot and park in multiple locations. The driver, Naik, "conducted what appeared to be counter surveillance to ensure no one else was in the area," Avon police Detective Sgt. Csaba Hortobagyi wrote in a report. The confidential source got out of their car, met with Naik, and was given the code word. She handed over a closed cardboard box, and Naik drove off before stopping in a parking lot belonging to a private business in the 900 block of Moore Road. The device in the package alerted police that it had been opened, and they stopped the Trax and detained Naik. The GPS tracker was found discarded in the parking lot where he had been parked minutes earlier. The fake gold, $5,500 in loose cash and another package with a handwritten label on it were found in Naik's vehicle. In an interview with Avon police, Naik allegedly told officers he had responded to an online advertisement to pick up the package from the alleged victim as well as other packages from other unknown victims, Hortobagyi wrote. In a follow-up report, Hortobagyi wrote that the Berea Police Department had taken a similar report on July 18 of a July 6 incident involving the purchase of $147,000 in gold bars. The alleged victim in that case was told to pick up gold in Ontario in Richland County, drive it to Berea and deliver it to someone else. Using Flock license plate reader cameras, authorities identified the suspect vehicle in that incident as a Toyota Tacoma registered to a 34-year-old Indiana woman with the same last name as Kevil Naik. She is believed to be a sibling or direct relation, according to Avon police. That information was passed on to the FBI, according to Avon police. That woman has not been charged with a crime in Lorain County, Cuyahoga County or U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, according to a search of court records. Electronic records obtained by the FBI also led police to discover that the Chevrolet Trax that Kevil Naik was driving was rented on Aug. 1 from an Enterprise in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by a 29-year-old Kalamazoo resident who gave his address as a business next door to the Enterprise rental office. Police said that man reported to Enterprise that its vehicle had been impounded while Kevil Naik was driving. That man also has not been charged in the case, according to court records. Avon police warned the public: No government agency will ever demand payment of fines, fees or taxes in gold, cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or gift cards. If someone claiming to be a police officer, federal agent or government employee calls you and demands payment in that way, it is a scam. Authorities recommend calling police to report it. Contact Dave O'Brien at 440-329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.