Maryland State Police are investigating after an inmate who was involved in a gold bar scam was found dead at the Maryland Correctional and Training Center in Hagerstown on Tuesday.
Officials identified Wenhui Sun, 36, as the man who died, according to a news release. Sun was serving a 6.5-year prison sentence for his role in a con that bilked almost $800,000 in gold bars from a woman living in the Leisure World retirement community in Silver Spring.
Sun was involved in a fight with two other inmates Tuesday and afterward was taken to the prison’s medical unit where he died, officials said.
Police said two suspects have been identified. Because the investigation is active and ongoing, authorities did not share any additional details.
Sun, who is originally from California, was part of an international crime ring that scammed elderly people out of large amounts of money. In the Leisure World case, he posed as a federal agent and reached out to the woman convincing her that someone had stolen her identity.
He then convinced her to transfer her assets into gold bars in the U.S. Department of Treasury as a safer way to protect her money.
According to court documents, the woman bought about $331,818 of gold and eventually turned over five 1-kilogram gold bars to a person she believed to be a courier for the government at a Silver Spring Walgreens location on March 5, 2024.
Sun’s death is the second inmate death in the past week in Maryland.
Last weekend, 23-year-old Deon Smith died while in custody at the Jessup Correctional Institution in Anne Arundel County, according to state police.
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