Coin Thieves Caught

[Al Kowsky]

A mother & son who had stolen $500,000 worth of coins from Michael Fuljenz have been caught ☺️.

https://www.numismaticnews.net/us-coins/coin-theft-suspects-caught

[Limes]

Thanks for sharing the link. I find this case too bizarre to be true! From the article:

"But according to the jewelry store’s transaction records obtained by law enforcement agents, he was paid tens of thousands of dollars by the store for 15 separate transactions between June 2020 to December 2020 involving rare coins and precious metals,” Fuljenz explained."

Really? Some random dude just walks in the store, offers highly valuable coins, and absolutely no questions asked? 

Also: "When challenged, local post office representatives repeatedly assured us the packages were being stolen after they left their distribution facility here. However, the thefts were happening at the local post office." The items found at the house of the defendent: "“Agents searched Rosas’ apartment and recovered hundreds of collectible coins, and multiple pieces of electronic equipment, which included: cellular telephones, laptops, iPads, gaming controllers, a stereo system, a flat-screen TV, and a mini refrigerator. Rosas admitted she stole these items from the mail.” 

I hope these 'representatives' will have to find another job as well, seeing the enormous amount of items found at the place of the arrested postal worker. I mean, how can someone not notice the large amount of items gone missing? Or is it just the way the USPS works? 

[Null]

I assumed this article was a week old as that mugshot surely had to be an April fools! Nope!

 

All she had to do was act like a normal postal service worker and just steal drugs from the mail lol!

 

What were they thinking trying to sell stolen coins as each can be identified uniquely from the little nicks and scratches and wear. I mean they could have just melted then down and sold the gold for scrap.

 

Well least he's dead and she's unlikely to ever be allowed to work for the postal service again.

[John Conduitt]

4 minutes ago, Limes said:

Thanks for sharing the link. I find this case too bizarre to be true! From the article:

"But according to the jewelry store’s transaction records obtained by law enforcement agents, he was paid tens of thousands of dollars by the store for 15 separate transactions between June 2020 to December 2020 involving rare coins and precious metals,” Fuljenz explained."

Really? Some random dude just walks in the store, offers highly valuable coins, and absolutely no questions asked? 

Also: "When challenged, local post office representatives repeatedly assured us the packages were being stolen after they left their distribution facility here. However, the thefts were happening at the local post office." The items found at the house of the defendent: "“Agents searched Rosas’ apartment and recovered hundreds of collectible coins, and multiple pieces of electronic equipment, which included: cellular telephones, laptops, iPads, gaming controllers, a stereo system, a flat-screen TV, and a mini refrigerator. Rosas admitted she stole these items from the mail.” 

I hope these 'representatives' will have to find another job as well, seeing the enormous amount of items found at the place of the arrested postal worker. I mean, how can someone not notice the large amount of items gone missing? Or is it just the way the USPS works? 

Yes and to need the involvement of NGC before putting $30 tracking devices in parcels having lost $500,000 of coins… who else could be stealing them but someone in the US postal system?

I’m not sure how the dealer was still in business anyway, or why they persisted in using the local postal service for $14,000 coins even if they thought the thefts were further down the line.

[Al Kowsky]

33 minutes ago, Limes said:

Thanks for sharing the link. I find this case too bizarre to be true! From the article:

"But according to the jewelry store’s transaction records obtained by law enforcement agents, he was paid tens of thousands of dollars by the store for 15 separate transactions between June 2020 to December 2020 involving rare coins and precious metals,” Fuljenz explained."

Really? Some random dude just walks in the store, offers highly valuable coins, and absolutely no questions asked? 

Also: "When challenged, local post office representatives repeatedly assured us the packages were being stolen after they left their distribution facility here. However, the thefts were happening at the local post office." The items found at the house of the defendent: "“Agents searched Rosas’ apartment and recovered hundreds of collectible coins, and multiple pieces of electronic equipment, which included: cellular telephones, laptops, iPads, gaming controllers, a stereo system, a flat-screen TV, and a mini refrigerator. Rosas admitted she stole these items from the mail.” 

I hope these 'representatives' will have to find another job as well, seeing the enormous amount of items found at the place of the arrested postal worker. I mean, how can someone not notice the large amount of items gone missing? Or is it just the way the USPS works? 

It appears the P.O. officials were trying to cover their own asses 😏. I hope they get booted 😠.

[Bailathacl]

Was curious about the son dying before being prosecuted.  Couldn’t find much on line to explain the cause of death — although “mugshot mortification” seemed plausible — but a Texan with the same name was arrested in 2021 for possession of methamphetamine.  Could explain a lot. 

[red_spork]

On 4/8/2023 at 6:06 AM, Limes said:

When challenged, local post office representatives repeatedly assured us the packages were being stolen after they left their distribution facility here

 

This unfortunately doesn't surprise me at all. It's quite rare in my experience to find any employee at USPS who cares about your missing mail until you really cause a fuss and get the postal inspector involved. In the town I previously lived in things would go missing quite often and usually be marked as delivered - they'd always show up after I complained, sometimes from a delivery driver in a personal vehicle but I've always wondered what would've happened had I not always complained the day something failed to show up.

[Numisnewbie]

One quick note: a postal distribution center is not the same thing as a local post office. A distribution center, also known as a hub, is a large regional facility that then ships mail and parcels out to local post offices in its coverage. That tells me this mother worked at a regular local post office, not a distribution center.

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That makes it even more shocking that this went on for so long. How does someone in a local post office get away with mail theft for that long? Where is the postal inspector for that post office and what was he/she doing all that time? Surely anyone expecting delivery of valuable coins (or, really, anything else) would file a claim when their package never got delivered.

I'm a retired carrier ("mailman"), and at different times I saw two employees go down for mail theft, in really stupid ways. One was stealing envelopes containing payment for traffic tickets, and the other was stealing holiday greeting cards addressed to college students here since they likely contained money. In both instances, and very predictably to anyone with common sense, complaints of missing mail came in almost right away, and it was very easy to catch these two idiots.

I just can't understand how the local post office in this case would face so many claims of missing packages and nobody caught on for so long.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Numisnewbie