newjerseynewsroom.com

The owner of a jewelry store in Bellmawr, Camden County has pleaded guilty, and has been ordered to pay $15,000 in penalties for multiple violations of a state law designed to protect consumers who seek to trade in gold or other precious metals for cash.

The state Office of Weights and Measures conducted an on-site inspection of Phil Mund Jewelry after receiving information provided by the Bellmawr police. The inspector noted several violations of the state Weights and Measures Act.

The violations included failure to test the fineness of precious metals in plain view of the seller; failure to weigh precious metals in plain view of the seller; failure to clearly and prominently display the price being offered for precious metals, expressed as price per standard measure or weight; and failure to issue proper serialized and detailed receipts to the sellers of precious metals.

Phil Mund Jr., the store’s owner, pleaded guilty in Bellmawr Municipal Court on March 28 to 30 counts of violating the Weights and Measures Act, and was ordered to pay $15,000, or the maximum penalty of $500 per count.

“When consumers choose to part with their jewelry in exchange for cash, it is often a difficult decision made during hard economic times,” Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said Wednesday. “This very significant penalty demonstrates just how seriously we take the laws that protect those consumers, by ensuring transparency and accountability in the weighing, testing, and pricing of their precious metals.”

“This judgment sends a very clear message about the importance of the law that protects consumers seeking to sell their gold and jewelry,” Consumer Affairs Director Sharon Joyce said. “The law requires jewelers to clearly post their current prices for gold and other precious metals, to conduct all weighing and testing of jewelry within plain sight of the owner who wishes to sell them, and to provide detailed and accurate receipts once the sale has been made.”

The Division of Consumer Affairs offers advice for New Jerseyans considering selling precious metals or jewelry:

Selling Your Precious Metals and Jewelry www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov/weights/WMPub_broc.pdf

Consumer Brief: Precious Metals and Jewelry www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov/alert/selljewelry.pdf

Precious Metals: A Guide for Law Enforcement www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov/weights/WMLaw_broc.pdf

The agency offers these tips:

• Know with whom you are doing business. The buyer of precious metals and jewelry must include their name and address in all advertisements and at the point of purchase.

• Remember that any weighting and testing of your precious metals or jewelry must be done in plain view of you, the seller.

• Check the scale being used to weight your precious metals or jewelry. The scale must bear a blue New Jersey Office of Weights and Measures sticker, dated to show the scale has been tested by the State within the last 12 months. Make sure the scale bears a seal that is not broken; a broken seal indicates possible tampering.

• Prices must be prominently posted.

• Be sure to get a complete sales receipt. The receipt must include the buyer’s name and address; the date of the transaction; the names of the precious metals purchased; the fineness and weights of the precious metals purchased; the prices paid for the precious metals at the standard measures of weight; and the name, address, and signature of the seller.

• After the sale, the buyer is required to keep the item purchased for at least two business days; and to keep a serialized receipt of each transaction for at least one year.

Investigator E. Robert Spiegel of the Office of Weights and Measures conducted the investigation.

—TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM