A $275,000 coin he is accused of stealing is still missing. But court proceedings in the case of a Delaware postal carrier charged with the theft are moving forward.
Ernest T. Wilson of New Castle made his initial appearance in federal court in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 12, according to an article in the Wilmington newspaper The News Journal.
Wilson is charged with three counts of theft by a postal employee and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. Among the items Wilson allegedly stole was a rare 1907 rolled-edge Indian Head $10 gold coin said to be worth $275,000.
In all, Wilson is accused of stealing approximately eight coins that were supposed to be delivered to Certified Assets Management Inc. of Wilmington. The business, according to the article, was on Wilson?s route.
The shipments took place between December 2004 and July 2005.
Prosecutors allege that Wilson did not deliver the coins. Instead, they say, he took the coins to Diamond State Coins & Currency in Booth?s Corner (Pa.) Farmers Market.
A worker at Diamond State contacted his business partner Mike Olson about the coin. Oddly enough, Olson was attending a coin show in San Francisco, where he met Robert Higgins. It was Higgins who was supposed to receive the coin in the mail.
When he was arrested, Wilson allegedly had some of the coins in his possession. But the 1907 coin was not among them. Wilson was X-rayed to see if he had swallowed it.
Initially, Wilson was charged by Pennsylvania authorities with receiving stolen property. But that case was dropped so he could be charged in federal court, according to the News Journal article.
