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Moorestown man admits posing as ATF agent to sell fake coins

Jonathan A. Kirschner sold fake gold bars and Morgan dollars.

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A 34-year-old Moorestown man pleaded guilty Monday in Camden federal court to posing as an ATF agent to sell counterfeit precious metal coins and bars, prosecutors said.

Jonathan A. Kirschner admitted to selling fake gold bars last year to a coin collector for $11,000 while wearing a badge purporting to identify himself as an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and claiming to be an ATF agent in written correspondence and in person with the victim. He also sold 49 counterfeit Morgan dollar coins last year to two people while posing as an ATF agent.

Kirschner admitted that he faked being an ATF agent to put his victims at ease when they made their purchases.

He pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler to one count of falsely impersonating an ATF agent and one count of importing counterfeit coins and bars into the United States. Kirschner faces a maximum of 15 years in prison on the unlawful importation count and three years on the impersonation count. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 1.