Driver missing with cargo of 3.6 million nickels

MIAMI (M) Millions of nickels are missing -- and so is the driver who was hauling them to a Federal Reserve Bank in New Orleans.

Police in Miami say Angel Ricardo Mendoza picked up three-point-six (m) million nickels, worth 180-thousand dollars, in New Jersey on December 17th. He was supposed to take the 45-thousand-pound shipment to New Orleans.

But his empty truck and trailer turned up December 21st at a truck stop in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Miami-Dade police, the F-B-I and the Federal Reserve police are investigating. They suspect foul play.

Mendoza lives in Miami-Dade County but has no family in the area. Police say he has a wife in Cuba.

http://www.woodtv.com/global/story.asp?s=2782627

 

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Why it took so long to find the truck 17 to 21 I mean...5 days...those trucks has GPS isntalled...they should knew when something was not going as planned...just my 2 cents...I don't know much of this things.

 

No wonder I can't find any new nickels in my change.

 

Start watching Ebay for bulk nickel sales

 

I wonder how much it costs to ship 45,000 lbs of nickels to Cuba?

 

I find it hard to believe that much money would have been entrusted to a single driver. That is definitely a situation that requires a second person, just for security reasons.

 

Back years ago, when I worked for a trucking company, It was common for loads of cents and nickels to be hauled by truck. Our company had only single drivers. I can remember 45ft trailers with $58,000 worth of cents in $50 dollar bags coming thru our terminal. These were always exclusive use loads. That means they are picked up at a source and delivered to the destination with out the trailer being opened or going across a dock to a different trailer .

It is not uncommon for trucks to haul hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of items. The hauling of coins from place to place is not that big a deal and happens quite often.

In all my years (25) of working at that company, I personally only saw 2 or 3 loads come thru that had guards accompaning the truck. This was always one or two cars leading or following the truck. The trailer never was out of sight of the guards. I remember one trailer had unembossed credit cards on it and it was escorted to its destination. None of the escourted trucks had coins as a cargo.

Most of the large company rigs do not have GPS monitoring yet or didn't have it when I retired in 2003.

Have a good day, Gary

 

Castro is behind this! I heard he has taken an interest in beginning a U.S. nickel collection.

 

How long would it take to search 3.6 million nickels for errors?

 

41 1/2 days at 1 per second without any breaks.

 

I knew it!

 

I just don't understand who in the world would want to steal nickels? Can you imagine unloading that truck and then wondering just where in the world you would get rid of them? Would take forever cashing in or spending a few rolls at a time. Guess I would make a terrible thief as I would prefer unmarked bills or silver or gold if I had to deal with weight. Nickels just wouldn't be in my bag of tricks.

 

As Rumsfeld would put it:

"You run away with the truckload of coins you have, not the truckload of coins you want"

After all, a truckload of nickels is better than no truckload at all

 

Good one!!!

 

Thats a lot of nickel slots at the casino

 

Unlike cash, the coins aren't individually numbered so they cannot trace them. All it would take is another truck to meet him somewhere and some means of transferring the load. Rolls or bags?

It will take a LONG time to convert it to cash, but I would think it is less risky than bills.

 

The Feds should start watching all the CoinStar machines.

 

I wonder if there was insurance on $180 thou or the driver..

 

Maybe a better question is- how long would it take me to roll 3.6 million in nickels? And where would I put them all after I was done?

PS- IvanV-- love the avatar! That's awesome!

Rachel

 

If they were shipped in a truck, then all that is needed for storage is about 100'x6'x8', at most. Then the weight would probably dictate that the trailer was not loaded all the way to the top of the trailer. Truck weights are limited by pounds per axle, IIRC.

To unload, all that is needed is a forklift, pallet jack, or even a two wheelers. Trucks like that are loaded by hand truck, forklifts, and pallet jacks every day.

This was some type of ground moving truck, I am assuming it was a tractor-trailer, not a barge on the Mississippi or a train with 100 cars.

If you tell me you will give me $180k in nickels if I have a place to put them, and a way tomove them, I am going to find a way.

It would appear that the logistics have already been worked out.


I hope if the case is cleared, we can get specifics.