US Mint officer admits taking $2.4M worth of coins

CAMDEN, N.J.

A former police officer for the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia has admitted to stealing $2.4 million worth of "error" coins and selling them to a coin distributor in California.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman in New Jersey said 64-year-old William Gray pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of theft of government property and tax evasion.

Gray, of North Wildwood, N.J., had worked at the U.S. Mint since 1996. In a federal court in Camden, N.J., he admitted taking $1 presidential coins that were missing edge lettering, knowing they would be considered more valuable to coin collectors because they were considered "mint errors." He mailed them from New Jersey.

He was freed on $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 20.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44447771/ns/us_news

1933 all over again

 

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Wow, wonder how many of those are now slabbed and in collections....

 

More importantly, they are now considered stolen property and anyone possessing them could be facing possession of stolen property charges.

 

But its unprovable right? How do you prove that yours was one of the ones stolen? Unless they have a document trail leading from this man's mailing to your slabbed coin, the Feds could never prove it was a stolen coin. Maybe they will be able to for a few, but I have also read of these missing letter coins being found in mint bags.

 

Anything for a quick buck.....

 

Makes you wonder about the "very unlikely" coins such as cents on dimes, dimes on cents, etc.

 

I doubt that. Especially if they were purchased at a public auction. Or are you impying that eBay and Teletrade will get prosecuted?

 

Very true. Sounds like a return of the bad old days where for insiders the mint would make almost anything, like 1804 silver dollars minted 54 years after the fact. I wonder if they would restrike 1913 liberty nickels?

 

applying at the mint, and will be taking orders shortly !

 

I wonder if he was the source of all those missing edge coins on ebay.

 

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A former police officer for the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia has admitted to stealing $2.4 million worth of "error" coins and selling them to a coin distributor in California.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman in New Jersey said 64-year-old William Gray pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of theft of government property and tax evasion.

Gray, of North Wildwood, N.J., had worked at the U.S. Mint since 1996. In a federal court in Camden, N.J., he admitted taking $1 presidential coins that were missing edge lettering, knowing they would be considered more valuable to coin collectors because they were considered "mint errors." He mailed them from New Jersey.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-mint-officer-admits-taking-2-4m-worth-021243998.html

 

The best reading on these type of stories is the "comments". And the 2.4 mil was the "street" value (I believe), not face value. Either way, it's a lot of coins.

 

I would certainly think if nothing else the value of those "error" coins would drop a bit after finding this out. Either way with all of the mint security you hear about makes me wonder how he got out the door with them...

 

Yes, you're right about the street value. Hauling out that much in face value would have been, er, difficult.

 

Was just about to start a thread on this. Wonder if they're using absolute highest realized price, then multiplying it by the number of coins? What year did the mint start to waffle it's own errors?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-error-Presidential-coins-sell-collector.html

 

Makes one wonder how many Southern California Coin dealers just became Northern Mexico dealers?
I think there is more to come out of this than just one indictment that sounds to me like a plea bargain.

 

Were they all errors?

that's a bunch.

 

I posted this on the other thread & thought I should copy it here too.

There is an old story about some mint employees getting error coins out of the mint. As the story goes; they would drop the coins into the oil fill port of the fork lift machine. When the machine would go outside the mint for service, an accomplice would empty the oil pan & retrieve the coins. I wonder if any of those guys are still doing time in jail.

 

I love the fact that he bonded out with stolen tax payer money?
Does the judge firmly believe this POS bonded out with his own hard earned money or our hard earned money? How about his defense? I'm sure that's stolen as well!