Houston-area victims lose thousands in high-end Rolex watch investment scheme

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Houstonians who thought they would get a Rolex watch at a discount price or others who thought they were making an investment are out nearly a quarter million dollars, according to court records, after an elaborate years long scheme that has resulted in felony charges for a Humble man.

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Jimmy Joseph, 47, is charged with aggregate theft and was arrested last week.

“It’s a very expensive lesson,” his longtime friend and barber Ronald Jackson said. “He was a client here.”

Joseph claimed he had access to lower prices on Rolex watches through a family member and better tax conditions in Dubai, according to court records. Investors who financed the watches would get paid after the watches got sold, sometimes at Indian jewelry stores in Houston. If the watches didn’t sell, the investment dollars were to be returned, investigators wrote in charging paperwork.

Records show Jackson invested nearly $93,000, which he believed he would nearly double as part of the investment.

“Did you ever actually see a watch that he had gotten?” KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry asked.

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“No,” Jackson said. “He said the watches would go to a warehouse…like somewhere downtown….and then from there they would be sold.”

Harold O’Neal, a barber that works with Jackson, said he invested around $19,000, and he expected to double that with Joseph’s alleged scheme.

“He always came through, always talked the right talk,” O’Neal said. “I thought he was a, you know, businessman.”

At least three other victims are named in charging documents, some who told KPRC 2 they just wanted to get a watch through Joseph.

One victim told KPRC 2 Joseph met his targets through Houston’s Indian community or at church and sometimes used religion to convince them.

All of the victims who spoke with KPRC 2 said they did small investments with Joseph first, which he delivered on, leading them to believe they could trust him.

So far, Joseph is accused of stealing $249,862 through the watch scheme, according to records, and investigators believe there could be more victims.

“I don’t trust nobody when it comes to money,” O’Neal said.

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O’Neal nor Jackson expect to see their money again but said the ordeal has changed the way they do business.

“A friend, I don’t care, a family member, no one gets that amount of trust, you know, especially when it comes to money,” Jackson said.

The same day Joseph was charged in this scheme, records show he got hit with another theft charge for allegedly renting a 2024 Toyota 4-Runner and never returning it.

Prosecutors asked for Joseph’s bond to be set at $150,000 in the watch investment scheme case, but records show it was instead set at $15,000 on Tuesday before he posted it and was released from jail on Wednesday.

At the time of both charges filed in December, records show Joseph was already out on bond for a 2021 theft case.

Civil court records show one of the victims in the criminal watch case sued Joseph in 2021 for fraud and breach of contract connected to the watch investment scheme. In 2022, a judge found Joseph liable and ordered him to pay more than $860,000.

Other potential victims can contact the HPD Major Offenders Division at 713 308-3100.