“Hold it!”

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 08:36 PM PST

Opportunities to buy and sell precious metals and gems have popped up everywhere, from jewelry stores to shopping mall kiosks to the modern equivalent of a home Tupperware party, each offering everyone a chance to trade a little silver and gold for some green.

In fact, the gold-for-cash rush has many folks rooting through their jewelry boxes and drawers in search of forgotten or no longer wanted or broken adornments that might be turned over for a few dollars or more.

But these transactions are also prompting town and police officials in some communities south of Boston to tighten regulations to deter those who might try to trade in precious things they don't own in order to get quick cash.

Most cities and towns have a time frame — ranging from 48 hours to 30 days — for how long a merchant must hold purchased jewelry items before reselling them or melting them down. Rules and regulations that apply to the largest jewelry stores or chains also hold kiosk owners similarly accountable, requiring them to hold a purchased item onsite for that period and to submit a photograph of it, with the seller's photo ID, to the local police department.

Those communities with short waiting periods are now rethinking their rules.

Hanover, for example, is taking steps to keep from becoming a mecca for "hot'' jewelry, said Town Manager Steve Rollins. The town currently requires buyers of jewelry and precious metals to hold such items for just two days, but selectmen have agreed to extend that wait period to 30 days.

"If you have a bunch of towns around you with 30-day waits, and you are the only one without a waiting period, where do you think that element will go?'' Rollins asked. "We need to address it, absolutely. You don't want to be out of lock step.''

It isn't that the town has seen an increase in illegal activity, Rollins said, but it wants to ward off that possibility.

Hanover Police Chief Walter Sweeney recently drafted a new bylaw to increase the holding period for stores that buy gold and other precious metals, to avoid any opportunity for stolen goods to be resold. He said earlier this month he was leaning toward somewhere between 15 and 30 days, then decided to recommend the higher number. The new rule, which takes effect with the next licensing period starting April 1, would also require merchants to submit to police color photographs of the item and of the seller along with other regular paperwork.

In the meantime, selectmen are asking for voluntary compliance as soon as it's practical.

"We don't want to be the least-regulated community in the area,'' Sweeney said. "We need to update the regulations to be more consistent with everyone else.''

He said his research shows that communities across the state generally have waiting periods of between 15 and 30 days. He said members of an area detectives' association at one point tried to get a statewide rule on a waiting period enacted, but it went nowhere.

State Senator James E. Timilty, a Walpole Democrat, has also tried for four years to get legislation passed that would require pawn shops and secondary metals dealers to hold items for 10 days before resale. While the Senate passed such a bill this year, the legislation stalled in the House Ways and Means Committee.

"The senator is committed to refiling the bill and working with colleagues in the House next session to get it passed and on the governor's desk,'' said Timilty's chief of staff, Matt Moran.

Longer holding times might be a nuisance for business owners, but will give everyone more security, Sweeney and Rollins say, and may even help police return stolen merchandise to robbery victims and prevent hot or fraudulent items from changing hands.

Corey Lasell sees it all at EZ Sell Gold and Diamonds, a kiosk at Kingston's Independence Mall that he has managed since February.

"I have people coming in with fake stuff all the time,'' Lasell said, adding he has also refused to buy items he suspected were stolen and others whose "owners'' outright said were hot. "It doesn't happen a lot, but it has happened,'' he said.

When he does take an item, Lasell is mandated by the town to hold it for 15 days before it may be resold or shipped to the company's refinery for meltdown. Lasell has to provide police a photograph of each item bought, along with the seller's ID prominent in each photo.

On a slow day, Lasell said, he may talk to more than 60 people and not make a trade. On a good day, there may be as many as 15 transactions, of which 75 percent are of broken jewelry. "I'm like my own little island here,'' he quipped.

Kingston police Sergeant John Lind said the popularity of cash-for-gold trades is probably a sign of the poor economy, in which many people are forced to look for ways to bring in more money. But the town wants to be proactive, rather than reactive, so bylaws that oversee such transactions are continually reviewed.

"They are constantly revamped because we want to be as progressive as we can be,'' Lind said. He said the town's sealer of weights and measures also regularly visits jewelry stores and establishments like Lasell's, to test the scales so trading is done fairly.

Police, and merchants, are also constantly on the lookout for repeat sellers, which can be a tip-off to stolen goods, Lind said.

Kingston police have shut down businesses for a day that did not adhere to the rules, he said. And they charged the owner of a local antiques store with failing to keep accurate records, and the owner later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, he said.

In Braintree, meanwhile, officials have tightened the town's regulations after fining a gold dealer at the South Shore Plaza $12,000 for not holding purchased items for the required 30 days. The dealer had disassembled the items, which were later identified as stolen.

Now, in addition to the 30-day holding period, Braintree merchants who buy and sell precious metals or gems must make those items available to police for inspection within 24 hours. Also, no one under age 21 may sell items to such an establishment.

But some area communities see no need to put such protections in place, mostly because they don't host many such stores.

"This has not come to our forefront yet,'' said Dedham's town administrator, William Keegan, whose town has no regulations on the purchase and sale of precious metals and gems. "We really don't have a lot of jewelry stores here in town. Occasionally we get jewelry buyers who will show up at one of our hotels, but it's not all that frequent.''

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net.