Pres. Obama pardons man convicted of "mutilation of coins"

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by willieboyd2, Dec 3, 2010.

  1. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    Ronald Lee Foster is about to get his fifteen minutes of fame.

    President Obama granted pardons to several people today,
    including Ronald Lee Foster of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania,
    who was sentenced in 1963 to one year of probation and
    received a $20 fine for the mutilation of coins.

    I looked but can not find out anything about what he did
    to coins.

    I wonder if he is the first person to produce the infamous
    "Lincoln looks at Kennedy" pennies?

    There was a guy back in the 1960's who used a machine to
    shave pennies to the size of dimes and passed them in
    vending machines.

    Now what is "mutilation of coins" and what did this guy do?

    :)
     
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  3. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    The CNN Article now has details of the crime:

    For 42 years, Ronald Foster didn't know he had a felony
    conviction for cutting up pennies.

    In 1963, he was earning $82 a month as a Marine at
    Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, when he says he and 16
    others hatched a scheme to cut pennies into dimes so they
    could use them in vending machines.

    But the Secret Service caught them. They were marched
    into a courtroom on base, where his commanding officer
    entered a plea on their behalf to mutilation of coins, he says.

    Then, in 2005, he applied for a gun permit and found out
    for the first time he had a felony conviction. He applied for
    a presidential pardon, which was officially granted Friday,
    in the first round of pardons during Obama's administration.

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/03/obama.pardons/index.html?hpt=T2

    :)
     
  4. 10gary22

    10gary22 Junior Member

    Man, I wonder if all the Native American Jewelry makers are felons ? Or is the Rez considered punishment enough ?

    Somehow the crime doesn't seem to fit "mutilization of money" as much as "fraud by deception" might ? I mean destroying a cent is bad, but stealing 9 cents by spending it is a lot worse.

    At least the pardon was used for what it should be used for. To clear the name of people who deserve it instead of a thief who stole billions from retirement accounts. IMHO
    gary
     
  5. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    How old were these guys back then? How many stupid things did you do as a teen? Well, I for one never aroused the attention of the Secret Service. LOL
     
  6. lucyray

    lucyray Ariel -n- Tango

    Interesting, because presidential pardons are very hard to come by. Five years to get it.. that's not too bad. I really believed they were next to impossible. I wonder how much in legal fees it cost him to pursue the pardon!
     
  7. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Must o' wanted that gun permit pretty bad....
     
    rooman9 likes this.
  8. 10gary22

    10gary22 Junior Member

    Maybe his brother-in-law was a lawyer ?
     
  9. jallengomez

    jallengomez Cessna 152 Jockey

    I think it was the "fraudulent altering" that did it. The laws may have been different back then, but currently mutilating coins is not the illegal part. This is from the U.S. Treasury:

     
  10. robbudo

    robbudo Indian Error Collector

    not that you know anyway ...

     
  11. jallengomez

    jallengomez Cessna 152 Jockey

    Past tense as a kid you mean...I know they've got their eye on you now.
     
  12. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Nah, too many years gone by.......LOL

    They've got other more tempting fish to fry. :)
     
  13. 10gary22

    10gary22 Junior Member

    One would certainly hope so, but some stories should never be told.
     
  14. Marshall

    Marshall Junior Member

    I'm glad because I love seeing those hobo nickels.
     
  15. ibab

    ibab New Member

    I'll see if i can get some scans in, but I found a few pennies that were mixed in with dimes. Some were just in rough shape, but 2 were exactly the size of a dime.

    1) is from the 1990's and cuts with a machine (likely) the edge is cut to be like a blade, or soemthing. and its very well worn

    2) is from 1968 and has been filed or belt sanded down so the outer dimension is that of a dime. the back was also whacked with some kind of tool, but its unclear if that was accidental or intentional.

    Not sure how long after 1963 this guy and the others like him had been doing it, or how long it took others to do the same thing. But these two went through a coin counting machine in a bank as a dime. Before you think too far into this - based on the ratio I've seen out of 1000 dimes, 2 will be pennies. on the flip side those machines also count dimes as pennies about 1 or 2 out of 5000.
     
  16. Texas John

    Texas John Collector of oddments

    In 1974, I watched a fellow high school student as he rubbed a dime on the sidewalk outside the gym, where there was a coke machine. His stated goal was to make it small enough to pass as a dime in the machine. I thought "What a way to make nine cents", but said nothing.

    Years before, in England, I watched some friends of my cousins filing sharp edges on the large pennies that were current at the time. Their stated goal was to make them into weapons - to be whipped into the other side's fan bleachers during a pending soccer match. I thought "What a waste of money", but said nothing.
     
  17. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    British India 1917 1 Anna filed to pass as 1/4 Rupee

    [​IMG]

    I acquired this coin sometime in the 1960's from a California dealer's
    foreign coin box.

    I examined it later and saw that it was a 1917 British India 1 Anna coin filed
    down to the size of a 1/4 Rupee coin.

    The guy even inserted edge reeding.

    As there were 16 annas to the rupee, this alteration quadrupled the value.
    The anna was then worth around 3¢ so the guy made a 9¢ profit.

    :)
     
  18. 10gary22

    10gary22 Junior Member

    My nephew was too lazy to file a coin down, so he put Mexican Pesos in coin wrappers with a Quarter on each end and cashed them in at a bank. Back then, you put your name and address on each wrapper. Cops were waiting for him before he made it home. lol Not the smartest kid in the family.
     
  19. ibab

    ibab New Member

    I've heard of some banks running a magnet over the rolled coin to see if you filled it with canandian coins. Which is funny to think about - because pretty soon they might be worth more...
     
  20. Marshall

    Marshall Junior Member

    I hope this is not too political, but it's the first move from this President I can agree with. The status as Felon for life for this petty larceny is too great.
     
  21. 10gary22

    10gary22 Junior Member

    I thought that perhaps they were using them in the vending machines on the base. The vendor files a complaint the NCIS would take over then hand the case to Treasury department after they caught the guys ? Then with the case closed, they gave it back to the Base commander to mete out appropriate punishment. But the felony would have gone on record. I don't think this guy was Court Martialed, otherwise he would have been more aware of his status. It was probably glossed over with an article 15, the $20 fine and he thought it was a done deal ?

    I saw some charges handled that way when I was in Nam. Some crimes don't seem like that big of a deal even though by letter of law they are. It was a felony to steal C rations and break open the meal kits for the cigarettes for example, but I believe it might have been done. IMHO
     
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