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Marijuana grower forfeits coin collection in plea deal
Michigan
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Put in a bid of around $20,000 and you might win the collection.
By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
PHOENIX MILLS — A coin collection appraised at about $20,000 and complete with a
treasure chest is being sold by the Otsego County District Attorney’s Office.
"Silver is heavy," Bruce Carroll, the county’s undersheriff, noted Thursday, as he lugged the collection from one room to the next at the county’s Public Safety Building to be photographed.
There’s lots of silver there, much of it old, some of it new, all of it seized last year from Shawn P. Duffy, 48, after he was arrested for growing marijuana at his home in Decatur.
Many of the coins are in small boxes. In one box, for example, there are silver dollars from the 1880s.
Another box is full of Indian head pennies, Liberty nickels, Barber Quarters (named for their designer Charles Barber), and more than a fistful of Washington quarters.
Included in one box are 84 Mercury dimes, "considered one of the most visually appealing of all US coins, and ... highly sought after by collectors," according to Wikipedia.
Another contains Morgan silver dollars, named for designer George T. Morgan.
The collection was discovered on or about Oct. 5, 2005, when a team of detectives from the sheriff’s department, the Oneonta Police Department and the Capital District Drug Enforcement Task Force executed a search warrant at Duffy’s former home.
When they walked into the old school house at 123 County Highway 37, they found that Duffy was growing marijuana in an upstairs room furnished with humidity gauges, a lighting system, carbon-dioxide generating equipment, a diesel generator and a power-supply meter.
Police had been watching Duffy for about two years before the bust, Investigator Michael Ten Eyck of the sheriff’s department said at the time.
Duffy, who’d been convicted once before of a marijuana charge according to police, was charged and arrested. On June 9, 2006, he pleaded guilty to second-degree possession of marijuana and as part of his plea bargain, he agreed to forfeit his coin collection, according to John Muehl, the county’s district attorney.
In return, he was sentenced by Otsego County Judge Brian Burns to four months of weekends in jail, five years of probation and a fine of $270.
"I don’t feel bad for him. Here’s a guy who hadn’t worked for years," said Muehl.
Duffy was not compelled to forfeit his $20,000 coin collection, but if he decided not to, he would have had an uphill battle in court, Muehl said.
"All I have to do is have a preponderance of evidence showing that the coins were acquired with money he made by selling marijuana," Muehl said.
Duffy has since moved out of the county and could not be reached for comment. His attorney, James Ferrari of Fly Creek, said Friday that Duffy’s forfeiture "was part of a plea bargain and that’s all I can say about it."
Muehl said he has seized other property in drug cases and is using the money to pay for law-enforcement tools.
"This is our largest one yet, but we’ve probably taken about $40,000 worth of property so far," he said. "The way I look at it, it’s saving the taxpayers money."
Proceeds from seized property have paid for a computerized voice-stress analyzer valued at about $14,000 and may soon pay for video cameras for state police, Muehl said.
The county will accept sealed bids on the coin collection until Wednesday.
"Then we’ll open up the bids and see what we have," said Muehl. "I’ve reserved the right to reject all bids because I’m not going to let $20,000 worth of coins go unless the bid is reasonable."
But a reasonably high bid will net someone a nice collection, he said, and ultimately buy some tools for law-enforcement agents.
By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
PHOENIX MILLS — A coin collection appraised at about $20,000 and complete with a
treasure chest is being sold by the Otsego County District Attorney’s Office.
"Silver is heavy," Bruce Carroll, the county’s undersheriff, noted Thursday, as he lugged the collection from one room to the next at the county’s Public Safety Building to be photographed.
There’s lots of silver there, much of it old, some of it new, all of it seized last year from Shawn P. Duffy, 48, after he was arrested for growing marijuana at his home in Decatur.
Many of the coins are in small boxes. In one box, for example, there are silver dollars from the 1880s.
Another box is full of Indian head pennies, Liberty nickels, Barber Quarters (named for their designer Charles Barber), and more than a fistful of Washington quarters.
Included in one box are 84 Mercury dimes, "considered one of the most visually appealing of all US coins, and ... highly sought after by collectors," according to Wikipedia.
Another contains Morgan silver dollars, named for designer George T. Morgan.
The collection was discovered on or about Oct. 5, 2005, when a team of detectives from the sheriff’s department, the Oneonta Police Department and the Capital District Drug Enforcement Task Force executed a search warrant at Duffy’s former home.
When they walked into the old school house at 123 County Highway 37, they found that Duffy was growing marijuana in an upstairs room furnished with humidity gauges, a lighting system, carbon-dioxide generating equipment, a diesel generator and a power-supply meter.
Police had been watching Duffy for about two years before the bust, Investigator Michael Ten Eyck of the sheriff’s department said at the time.
Duffy, who’d been convicted once before of a marijuana charge according to police, was charged and arrested. On June 9, 2006, he pleaded guilty to second-degree possession of marijuana and as part of his plea bargain, he agreed to forfeit his coin collection, according to John Muehl, the county’s district attorney.
In return, he was sentenced by Otsego County Judge Brian Burns to four months of weekends in jail, five years of probation and a fine of $270.
"I don’t feel bad for him. Here’s a guy who hadn’t worked for years," said Muehl.
Duffy was not compelled to forfeit his $20,000 coin collection, but if he decided not to, he would have had an uphill battle in court, Muehl said.
"All I have to do is have a preponderance of evidence showing that the coins were acquired with money he made by selling marijuana," Muehl said.
Duffy has since moved out of the county and could not be reached for comment. His attorney, James Ferrari of Fly Creek, said Friday that Duffy’s forfeiture "was part of a plea bargain and that’s all I can say about it."
Muehl said he has seized other property in drug cases and is using the money to pay for law-enforcement tools.
"This is our largest one yet, but we’ve probably taken about $40,000 worth of property so far," he said. "The way I look at it, it’s saving the taxpayers money."
Proceeds from seized property have paid for a computerized voice-stress analyzer valued at about $14,000 and may soon pay for video cameras for state police, Muehl said.
The county will accept sealed bids on the coin collection until Wednesday.
"Then we’ll open up the bids and see what we have," said Muehl. "I’ve reserved the right to reject all bids because I’m not going to let $20,000 worth of coins go unless the bid is reasonable."
But a reasonably high bid will net someone a nice collection, he said, and ultimately buy some tools for law-enforcement agents.
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Comments
Sounds like more work to me growing the stuff than catching the guy....
Also, dont cops have better things to do than bust pot heads?
How about catching crooks? No, that would be real work wouldnt it..
Looks like the coins will pay for a few more ATVs or terror fighting equipment
Regards to all
Brian Kuszmar
Second Generation Coin, Currency and Precious Metals Dealer
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would you feel the same way if he was selling or had someone selling the stuff across the street from you, your house, your kids, your children's school?
probably not.
How many potheads have such an elaborate grow system. He's dealing.
I will agree that there are bigger fish to fry (even a quite a few in numismatics) than some guy burning a lefty....but this guy does not appear to be a simple pothead. If they watched him for 2 years you can bet he didn't have 2 seeds started in an empty butter bowl on his windowsill.
My opinion...legalize the stuff and tax the HELL out of it. Of course it would still be treated as it is now if you decide to get behind the wheel stoned out of your melon.
Second Generation Coin, Currency and Precious Metals Dealer
Coin, Currency or Bullion Questions?
Call anytime 954-493-8811
<< <i>Brian would you feel the same way if he was selling or had someone selling the stuff across the street from you, your house, your kids, your children's school? probably not. How many potheads have such an elaborate grow system. He's dealing. I will agree that there are bigger fish to fry (even a quite a few in numismatics) than some guy burning a lefty....but this guy does not appear to be a simple pothead. If they watched him for 2 years you can bet he didn't have 2 seeds started in an empty butter bowl on his windowsill. My opinion...legalize the stuff and tax the HELL out of it. Of course it would still be treated as it is now if you decide to get behind the wheel stoned out of your melon. >>
1) With all due respect a $20,000 coin collection does not make me think that this guy was rolling in money. He had spent some money in coins but there was no mention of certified coins but rather of "some boxes".
2) There are so many murders, rapes and other unreported (or not reported by the press) violent crimes that I really do wonder what stalking a guy like this for 2 years had cost and in contrast what benefit the State (i.e. us citizens) are gaining from the prosecution of such small fry. Take the cost of at least 2 law enforcement officers (shall we say $30K or $40K per annum plus benefits?), the cost of equipemnt used, etc. as well as trial costs and the amount squandered becomes an important sum.
3) I have no intention of condoning drugs of any kind. In Chicago once upon a time (where I was born and grew up) there were at least 2 police stations that had been discovered to have Maijuana plants in their back yard. Agreed this was a long time ago but still the idea of making it legal and then taxing the HELL out of it would be for some a deterrant but would probably increase the possibility of controlling the stuff and whomever is involved in growing and peddling the stuff. As it can't be defeated the best we can hope for is to control it.
From the example above it took 2 years to pin "second-degree possession of marijuana " on this guy? I don't think the result was worth the expense. We all lose this way.
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I could not agree more with this. Saying that someone selling pot in your neighborhood is a problem while there is alcohol being sold in every corner store, and probably a cabinet full of it in your home is simply foolish.
After 23 years of working in ER's 18 years of which were spent in the #1 & #3 busiest Trauma Centers in the country, I can tell you that alcohol is the #1 drug problem. Marijuana is not the "Gate Way Drug", alcohol is.
Do not get me wrong. Drugs are bad! But the only way to deal with them is for the government to control them, sell them, and force education on those that decide to use them. The government could then use the money it made selling the drugs on rehab and paying for the damages done by their use. We could put all the drug dealers out of business in one day. We could stop the illegal importation of drugs, in one day. We could stop the US dollars going illegally to foreign countries for the purchase of these drugs, in one day. We could stop the killing of both guilty and innocents that get in the way of the illegal drug trade, in one day. And finally we could stop wasting an enormous amount of time and money fighting a war that can not be won.....IN ONE DAY!!
Legalize them all. Control them all. And only sell them to adults after that are forced to have education and get regular counseling....Do not allow private sales. I am not suggesting that we would see advertisements by private companies to glamorize heroin. It should all be controlled by the government and sold in government stores. No pretty packages, no nice buildings. It should be as nice as going to a methadone clinic.
I truly believe this approach would send the right message about the use of these drugs, it is stupid, it is bad for you, but if you are going to do it anyhow, here you go. The government could sell the drugs so cheap that no one would be able to make any money doing it illegally and at the same time make it so unglamorous that no one would feel good about using them either....
OK, way off the topic of coins......I doubt the coins in question are really worth $20K. This is probably Red Book prices and anyone paying $20K for the coins will probably be stuck with $9K worth of coins..... (just to get myself back on topic).
Howz about arresting some of the politicians for being traitors to the Constitution? Now THAT would require some larger prisons being built wouldn't it?
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Ayn Rand just rolled over in her grave.
Giving stiff sentences IMHO to pot growers is BS, but profitable. More lawyers, judges, cops, social workers, jailers, etc.
Most social workers I know smoke pot so they win win.
<< <i>the idea of making it legal and then taxing the HELL out of it would be for some a deterrent but would probably increase the possibility of controlling the stuff and whomever is involved in growing and peddling the stuff. As it can't be defeated the best we can hope for is to control it.
I could not agree more with this. Saying that someone selling pot in your neighborhood is a problem while there is alcohol being sold in every corner store, and probably a cabinet full of it in your home is simply foolish.
After 23 years of working in ER's 18 years of which were spent in the #1 & #3 busiest Trauma Centers in the country, I can tell you that alcohol is the #1 drug problem. Marijuana is not the "Gate Way Drug", alcohol is.
Do not get me wrong. Drugs are bad! But the only way to deal with them is for the government to control them, sell them, and force education on those that decide to use them. The government could then use the money it made selling the drugs on rehab and paying for the damages done by their use. We could put all the drug dealers out of business in one day. We could stop the illegal importation of drugs, in one day. We could stop the US dollars going illegally to foreign countries for the purchase of these drugs, in one day. We could stop the killing of both guilty and innocents that get in the way of the illegal drug trade, in one day. And finally we could stop wasting an enormous amount of time and money fighting a war that can not be won.....IN ONE DAY!!
Legalize them all. Control them all. And only sell them to adults after that are forced to have education and get regular counseling....Do not allow private sales. I am not suggesting that we would see advertisements by private companies to glamorize heroin. It should all be controlled by the government and sold in government stores. No pretty packages, no nice buildings. It should be as nice as going to a methadone clinic.
I truly believe this approach would send the right message about the use of these drugs, it is stupid, it is bad for you, but if you are going to do it anyhow, here you go. The government could sell the drugs so cheap that no one would be able to make any money doing it illegally and at the same time make it so unglamorous that no one would feel good about using them either....
OK, way off the topic of coins......I doubt the coins in question are really worth $20K. This is probably Red Book prices and anyone paying $20K for the coins will probably be stuck with $9K worth of coins..... (just to get myself back on topic). >>
I got to agree %100 here. Plus this would also basically shut down all the drug cartels in foreign countries. Americans are their number 1 customers. Think of all the money would save fighting the war on drugs at our borders too.
09/07/2006
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