# Man sentenced for trading fake gold bars for e-bike

> David Robert Meade duped a Batemans Bay seller with counterfeit bullion to pay drug debts, then ignored requests for authentication.
- Title: Man sentenced for trading fake gold bars for e-bike · Abc
- Summary: David Robert Meade duped a Batemans Bay seller with counterfeit bullion to pay drug debts, then ignored requests for authentication. David Robert Meade was…
- Keywords: david robert meade, batemans bay, fake gold bars, fraud, sentencing, community corrections order, news, politics, Man, sentenced, trading, fake
- Source: Abc — https://abc.net.au/news/2026-10-19/man-trades-fake-gold-bullion-for-mountain-bike/107283812
- Published: 2026-10-19T06:27:04+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: david robert meade, batemans bay, fake gold bars, fraud, sentencing, community corrections order, news, politics
## Man trades fake gold for e-bike
In November twenty twenty-three, David Robert Meade contacted a man selling an electric mountain bike for seven thousand five hundred dollars on Facebook Marketplace and offered to trade three gold bars for it.
## The fake bars looked authentic
Meade met the victim in Batemans Bay with three gold bars in separate cases.Each bar had a serial number and was branded with Credit Suisse.
## Victim discovers the deception
In January twenty twenty-four, the victim asked Meade for authentication papers but received no response.In November twenty twenty-five, he saw a social media post identifying Meade as someone who had sold fake gold bullion previously.
## Meade's debts and addiction
Meade's lawyer told Batemans Bay Local Court that he had significant debts to drug dealers at the time and was dealing with methamphetamine and opioid addiction.

> significant debts to drug dealers
## Court orders repayment and community time
Judge Doug Dick said the man before him was not the same desperate man from his previous sentencing.

> not the same desperate man
## Key takeaway

David Robert Meade was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order and ordered to repay seven thousand five hundred dollars after trading fake gold bars for an electric mountain bike in Batemans Bay.