Anybody who ever played "pirate" as a kid had to feel a twinge of envy
as the TV networks replayed the story of three men who claimed to have
found a box filled with old gold and silver certificates, bonds, etc
buried under an apple tree. A coin dealer had valued their haul at
something like $100,000. (Nobody is going to retire, but a very nice
payday nonetheless).

One aspect of the story seemed a little odd when it first aired.
Two of the men had been hired by the third, they said, to dig out an
old apple tree. They claimed they found a box buried in the root system
of the tree, stuffed with all the money. What seemed unusual was that
the owner of the property was more than happy to share, even up, with
the supposed casual-laborering strangers who found the money. That runs
contrary to normal human nature.

It now appears that at least two of the three men were roofers, and
they actually found the stash of antique money sitting in an attic
after they had stripped off the old roof. Some old geezer must have
been accumulating a horde and then died without telling anybody where
he had hidden the money. The roofers stole the money from the job site,
and the current owners of the home had no idea there was $100k in old
bills and coins stashed in the rafters.

ABC interviewed a cop who said, "If they hadn't gone on every TV
station in the country and talked about this, it's likely they would
have got away with it. They could have quietly taken the money to New
York, sold it, and because the homeowner didn't know
the money had ever been there nobody would have filed a complaint.
As soon as they began appearing on TV, the leads began pouring in."

Note to would-be pirate treasure hunters. Finders keepers, blabbers
weepers. Those 15 minutes of fame will likely turn into 15 years in the
slammer. :-(

wrote in message

ABC interviewed a cop who said, "If they hadn't gone on every TV
station in the country and talked about this, it's likely they would
have got away with it. They could have quietly taken the money to New
York, sold it, and because the homeowner didn't know
the money had ever been there nobody would have filed a complaint.
As soon as they began appearing on TV, the leads began pouring in."



I saw that interview with the cop too. I don't understand how their
going on TV changed anything. If the home-owner didn't know
the money was up in that attic before, how does seeing these
guys on TV claiming to have found money in their back yard
lead anyone to suspect it came from that attic?

The police and prosecutors have no evidence that the money
was stolen, where it was stolen from, or a victim of the crime.

Also I head that the reason the police charged these guys is because
of anonymous tips.

My bet: These guys were up to something, and one of the three
got greedy and so one of the others (or their friend) called the cops.

Ever see the movie A Simple Plan (Billy Bob Thornton 1998)? I'll
bet its something like that.

In article .com,
says...
Anybody who ever played "pirate" as a kid had to feel a twinge of envy
as the TV networks replayed the story of three men who claimed to have
found a box filled with old gold and silver certificates, bonds, etc
buried under an apple tree. A coin dealer had valued their haul at
something like $100,000. (Nobody is going to retire, but a very nice
payday nonetheless).

One aspect of the story seemed a little odd when it first aired.


Not quite Darwin Award material but certainly rates up there in the
stupid criminals race.

jps