CANTON, Texas — Two men from China are accused of money laundering after police say they were found with $250,000 worth in gold bars during a traffic stop Thursday on Interstate 20 in Van Zandt County.
Weijian Chen, 25, and Wenqiang Lin, 46, were arrested for money laundering between $150,000 and $300,000, according to court records. During a news conference Friday, Van Zandt County District Attorney Tonda Curry detailed their arrests and gave updates on the investigation.
According to an arrest document, a Wills Point detective pulled over the vehicle that Chen and Lin were riding in after he noticed the car was following another vehicle too closely. The detective asked Chen, who was the driver, to speak with him at the patrol vehicle using a translation app. The officer said he believed there was criminal activity "afoot."
Chen told the detective they flew from Los Angeles, California to Atlanta, Georgia to "play," but they were only in Atlanta for a day. When asked about three bags in the vehicle, Chen denied the detective's request to search them. Lin, who had rented the car, later gave permission while seeming unsure, and he said they had already been stopped by another officer, the document read.
The detective's K-9 conducted a sniff search of the vehicle. The detective found a boarding pass for a flight from Los Angeles on July 30 that landed in Atlanta on July 31. The search then led to the detective finding a bag behind the driver's seat with multiple pieces of gold bars inside. The value of that gold totals about $250,000, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said both Lin and Chen claimed they did not know who the bag or the gold belonged to. Both men were then placed under arrest.
After contacting an agent with Homeland Security, the Wills Point detective learned Lin entered the United States illegally and was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol on Sept. 15, 2023, in California. He was given a notice to appear in court and released without having to post bail. Chen came into the United States on Dec. 17, 2023, in California and also given a notice to appear in court and released without having to post bail as well, the document read.
In an interview with police at the Van Zandt County Jail, Chen said he received the gold bars by someone asking him to take the gold to Dallas. He didn't give any more information. Lin said he left China, went to Hong Kong, then flew to Turkey and flew to Mexico from there. Lin said he then traveled through Mexico with others from China to attempt entry into the U.S., the affidavit stated.
The Wills Point officer learned that Lin and Chen were stopped in Monroe County, Georgia, on July 31 and a law enforcement officer searched their vehicle with a narcotics detection dog at the time. That officer tried tracking where their rental vehicle had been previously. The officer found that they had used a different vehicle, which left the Atlanta airport, and traveled north to Marietta, Georgia, which is an area known for cartel activity.
Curry said she believes they were working with the cartel after investigating their travel history this week.
According to the document, they went south to Jacksonville, Florida and they stayed in Jacksonville for about two hours before going west on Interstate 10 and then north on Interstate 49 to I-20, where they were later pulled over in the Wills Point area.
The Wills Point detective wrote in the document that people who are involved in criminal activity like selling illegal narcotics usually carry large amounts of money. Curry said to convict them in court of money laundering, her office would have to prove that they engaged in unlawful activity.
Deana Brown, founder of Freedom Seekers International, said the main reason people leave China is because of communism. Freedom Seekers International helps rescue people from other countries who are persecuted for their faith and helps resettle them.
She said when migrants come to the U.S., they don’t have working permits, so some resort to other ways of making money. However, Brown doesn’t believe the two men are refugees since they had money to buy a plane ticket and rent cars.
"I'm sure there are good people who are leaving horrible circumstances, but among those good are people who help organizations that prey on U.S. citizens," Curry said, adding she doesn't know if the two men came into the U.S. as refugees.
"They were arrested for money laundering. No formal charges have been filed yet," Curry said.