WHOOPS! Trio who "found" money in Lawrence Mass.---Arrested

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=715119

LAWRENCE, Mass. Apr 29, 2005 — A group of men who made national headlines by claiming they found a buried treasure worth up to $125,000 was charged Friday with stealing the collection of old currency from a barn where they were working.

Barry Billcliff, 27, of Manchester, N.H., and Timothy Crebase, 22, of Methuen, Mass., were charged with receiving stolen property, conspiracy and accessory after the fact, Methuen Police Lt. Kevin Martin said.


Police said Crebase confessed to finding the money in the gutter of a barn they were hired to repair in Newbury. Authorities declined to identify the owners of the barn nor would they comment on whether the money had been reported missing.

Investigators said Crebase, Billcliff and Ingham found the money stuffed in rusting tin cans in the barn's gutter and persuaded Kozak to go along with their story. The men claimed they found 1,800 bank notes and bills dating between 1899 and 1928 while digging in the yard of the house Crebase rents.

the money would belong to the owner of the property, not the guys who dug it up. Seems pretty odd that they'd find it in the gutter, too. If the owner knew the money was there, why didn't s/he remove it, or say something to the guys?

I don't know the deal with this case in the news but it reminds me of an elderly friend of mine whose husband had hidden a metal box full of old money under rafters or eaves of garage. She did not know about her husband's money collection (he had a stroke and Alzheimer's) until roofers repairing leaks found the locked metal box and brought it to her. She was able to auction off the contents through an auction house that specializes in rare coins and currency and some of the individual items were worth more than I would have imagined.

Who knows? If they had just sold it off and not tried to get attention they would have been fine.

;)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x3148820

Almost exactly the same headline. Very funny.