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A Nederland man is facing up to two years in prison for allegedly stealing and selling $48,000 worth of gold and silver coins from a Beaumont post office.

Christopher Rosas, 39, was indicted this week by a Jefferson County grand jury on the state jail felony charge.

According to a probable cause affidavit, in 2019 a federal agent from the Harris County internal mail theft unit of the United States Postal Service began investigating items reportedly stolen from the post office on Walden Road in Beaumont.

Several businesses that deal in gold and silver coins said they mailed coins that never reached their destination.

In January 2021, Beaumont company Universal Coin and Bullion was notified that a stolen coin had been sold to Heartfield’s Fine Jewelry and Rare Coins in Beaumont. The jewelry store owner identified Rosas as the seller from the invoice.

A deeper search revealed 15 invoices with the suspect’s name.

Many of the coins matched the description of those reported stolen by Universal Coin and Bullion.

Law enforcement ran the man’s name through pawn shop records and found 68 tickets with 86 items, including gold and silver coins.

Also included in the pawn shop records were two cell phones that had been mailed and were assumed to be “lost in the mail.”

The affidavit says Rosas is related to an employee at the Beaumont post office where the thefts occurred.

A warrant for his arrest was issued on February 23, 2001.

Rosas is no longer listed on the Jefferson County jail roster.