News: "Man sentenced to 60 years in prison for stealing Georgetown father-in-law's coin collection"

Goldbully · March 21, 2025 6:12PM

That is quite the sentence for stealing a coin collection.

We've seen murderers get lesser sentences.

Looks like elder abuse and coins are a lethal combination.

Man sentenced to 60 years in prison for stealing Georgetown father-in-law's coin collection
Claire Osborn
Austin American-Statesman

A Williamson County jury has sentenced a man to 60 years in prison for stealing his father-in-law's coin collection.

Christopher Alan Young, 56, of Pearland, was convicted of theft of property from an elderly individual, according to a district attorney's news release. It said the charge was elevated to a first-degree felony because of the victim's age, the release said.

The victim, who lives in Georgetown, was 83 when the theft occurred, officials said. The jury sentenced Young on March 12 and fined him $10,000.

Young's father-in-law, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a pilot, spent 60 years putting together a valuable coin collection, the release said. Authorities were alerted in August 2022 after Young's wife told police she thought Young had stolen her father's coin collection, an arrest affidavit said. It said Young and his wife had been frequently visiting her parents in Georgetown from 2021-22 to help them relocate.

"During this period, some of the coins Young had stolen were discovered missing, and Young suggested and installed a lock on his father-in-law’s home office door, providing him with a single key," the release said. It said the father-in-law stored a large portion of his extensive coin collection, including gold, silver and commemorative coins, within an office closet. The most valuable part of the collection had been placed inside the closet in March 2022 after an inventory by family members, the affidavit said.

On Aug. 21, 2022, it said, relatives discovered coins in the collection were missing. The missing items included $85,000 in gold coins, $19,500 in silver coins and $19,400 in dollar coins. They also included $5,000 in commemorative coins, the affidavit said.

Young's wife told police that when she asked him if he had taken the coins he reacted "defensively and angrily," the document said. It said she later found a check he deposited in their joint banking account from a coin business in Pearland. She then went to the coin business and verified through sales transactions that Young had sold more than $10,000 of her father's coins to the business on at least three occasions, the affidavit said.

Young's wife also found out her husband had sold her father's coins to a coin business in Georgetown, according to the affidavit. Further investigation revealed that Young had sold more than $3,000 of his father-in-law's sterling silver Norman Rockwell plates to the same coin business, the document said. It said Young also sold more than $1,300 of his father-in-law's coins to a gold business in Taos, New Mexico. The dates that Young sold the coins corresponded to the dates he had stayed at his father-in-law's home for family events or vacations, the affidavit said.

Young's father-in-law told police he never gave permission for Young to sell his coins, according to the affidavit. It said he told police the coins "were to be part of my retirement and some college money for my nieces and nephews left after settling my estate."

A Texas Department of Public Safety investigation revealed that Young had stolen the coins over several months and sold them to jewelers and precious metal stores in Georgetown, Pearland, Las Vegas and other cities throughout the southern United States, the news release said.

"When confronted by the family, Young fled Texas," the release said. It did not provide the date that Young left the state. He was arrested outside a Louisiana casino resort less than a month after he left Texas, according to the release.

“This defendant’s actions demonstrated a callous disregard for the trust placed in him by his family," said District Attorney Shawn Dick. "The jury’s sentence sends a strong message that those who prey on the vulnerable will be held accountable. My office remains committed to pursuing justice in cases involving the financial exploitation of the elderly.”

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