Treasure hunter marks five years in jail for refusing to give up his gold

There's no disparity because it's self inflicted. He has a way to freedom, tell where the treasure is for his initial deal. If he wants to gamble he'll get out and do time to try and protect a windfall that's his choice.

If someone makes a plea deal and does not honor it in a major way then yes they do deserve to have it revoked. And yes people that skip court dates for major charges shouldn't be paroled. The US Marshalls had to track him down.

We aren't talking about someone failing a drug test for weed on parole or getting home an hour late, his plea deal was essentially structured around handing over the treasure

He can request all his charges to be brought forward and out of his broken plea deal and get credit for the time he's already served. He's doing this for a reason

 

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Indeed, this was perhaps the most significant treasure find in US history - many million dollars worth of gold. This story is fascinating for both the Technical genius of the recovery and the vast wealth that was retrieved. The USS Central America was a passenger ship traveling to New York from Panama in 1857, carrying 600 passengers, most of whom were families that made it rich in the California gold rush. Beyond the passenger wealth, the ship was transporting 21 tons of California gold. (!!!). The ship sank in a hurricane and was finally found in the late 1980's by Tommy Thompson and his crew at a depth of almost two miles. The recovery story is amazing. At that time there was no technology to harvest large amounts of gold from a depth anywhere close to this deep in the ocean.

The devices used for recovery were designed and fabricated by Thompson and his fellow engineers. I was fascinated by the description of one of the devices which encapsulates stacks of coins in silicone while still on the bottom in order to preserve their condition and prevent them from scratching as they were being pulled to the surface. This was one of the largest finds of California territorial gold in history.

Several of the coins and large ingots from this find have been offered recently for sale. I believe I recall Stacks offering one of the gold ingots for several hundred thousand dollars.

An account of the venture can be found in the book "Ship of Gold" by Gary Kinder (1998). This is one of the best books I have read this year and I highly recommend it. Thompson is a hero in this book so I was disappointed to hear about his apparent dishonesty with some of the treasure.

 

If he violated his plea agreement, then you withdraw the plea agreement, and you prosecute him for the crime he committed and go for the maximum penalty. Considering this was a white collar crime, his time served (5 years) would likely be longer than the maximum penalty for the crime he committed. Therefore, it is time to let him out.

 

There is more to this story than what we know. The big question is, why is Thompson willing to stay in prison. I suspect he thinks he will be released eventually and he can escape to some destination where he hid his loot and I don't mean 500 gold coins.

 

And this crime, reneging on his plea bargain, is worse than the crimes I've mentioned, rape and murder? Yet those crimes have a release date. Cuff the guy with the bracelet to restrict his freedom and hope he leads you to the treasure. Keep him incarcerated and let the taxpayer foot the $50k-$75k per year because he lied about coughing up the goods.

You're not going to convince me you're right.

 

Did you not see the link where one of his lawyers had to quit being a lawyer as well? There's more to this story and he controls his destiny. He could come clean or just request trials. There's a strategy going on here it's not just someone blindly locked up for no reason

And no I don't agree with murderers or rapists getting out early as they ruined or ended someones life.

He's not taking a spot from anything all the prisons got emptied. And yes you absolutely do have to enforce significant plea deal violations otherwise you lose all credibility. Let all the insignificant over criminalized people out and you have the money for it

 

The sarcasm is much too subtle for me, sorry. But if I were able to understand your point, I would probably suggest that you're ignoring the rather important fact that he can be released any time he wants to. But since I can't understand your point, I won't make that suggestion.

 

No need for subtleties. You can call it obnoxious truth if you'd like. Imprisoning someone with no chance for release, that hasn't been sentenced to life in prison is ok with you. Not me.

 

Don't be deliberately obtuse. He has every chance at release. I'm done with this conversation.

 

While would generally agree, it’s not accurate to say there’s no chance. There is a big chance and never would have went there if he had cooperated about the find. People do silly stuff when 100s of millions are on the line.

 

The guy reneged on his word. A sworn, signed, commitment, a plea deal. I get it.
If that's the case, then retry him without any offer of a plea. Let the courts determine his fate. If he's found guilty, he gets sentenced. His sentence will highly unlikely include life in prison. Whatever his sentence is, he serves his time. He gets out. All done. The way it is structured now, he is imprisoned for life.

Just put him in front of a judge and jury once again and be done with it.
Honestly, it seems he's pissed off some very powerful people. They don't want him walking out without divulging the whereabouts of the bounty. Understood. And I agree. However, he didn't hold up his end of the plea bargain. Therefore the court system should revert to the moment in time before the plea. That was him going to trial.

I cannot understand for the life of me how anyone can honestly say someone should remain incarcerated for life for not honoring a plea bargain. There is more than one resolution other than him deciding to divulge the info they want. That is his lawful right to a trial.

 

The part that’s being missed is that he could all of that. Just demand a trail and say I reign the plea deal. There’s a bunch of legal articles and things with more facts than some media hype for why. It also helps to not try and hide and have to have the US Marshall’s come after you. They don’t waste their time on small cases

 

I agree with @masterswimmer. The sentencing judge was overzealous when he imposed a foolish judgement on this man and figured he would relent after a couple months in jail and give the information requested by the court. The judge should have dismissed the charge against Thompson after six months and brought him to trial for the related charges against him. Was Thompson wrong to renege on the plea deal? Yes. Withdraw the plea deal I foresee a huge lawsuit against the judge and the state before this is over.
Where is the public outrage against this absurd judgement? Where is the Media? Why is this injustice condoned?
The judge should be removed from this case and replaced by someone with reasonable cognitive ability. It's time to "Strike the colors". Principles be damned. Let's end this farce.
There may be more to the case than we know, but the injustice done to this man should cease.
Ps. The press coverage has been woefully inadequate. They have indicated multiple million dollar awards to various entities but fail to tell us who in supposed to pay them, Thompson?

 

He hasn't paid the fine which is excessive. $1000 a day for over 1700 days.
The jail term is also excessive for (contempt of court?).
On his end he ripped off the investors.
All anybody cares about is money. Why do they demand to know the location of the golf coins? So the US can put in a claim for them?
So many legal irregularities on both sides. Someone besides him knows where these coins are, and it's almost 100% they are gone, he will never get them. Either they have been stolen/misappropriated/confiscated by Belize or his confidant on the outside.

 

Not to mention that the people on the outside who know where the coins are located are also criminals, and it is entirely possible that they have threatened his life as a way to keep him from talking.

At this point, it doesn't matter. The judge can only continue the contempt penalty going as long as there is a reasonable change that the imprisonment will actually get the person to divulge the information. After 5 years in prison, if he hasn't talked, he isn't ever going to talk. The discretion by this judge is despicable. The contempt of court should have ended years ago, they should have voided the plea deal, and prosecuted the guy to the fullest extent of the law. Had they done all of that, it is likely that he would still have been a free man at this point.

 

9 tons of gold ! That's an amazing amount

 

He's a big flight risk, he'd cut that tracking device off and go on the run again.

 

Jump on a boat and, bye bye!

 

Yeah I don't think he's the full shilling either, at 68 it's time to cash in his hand before the grim reaper does!