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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: d:oug who wrote (57048)	8/6/2000 5:17:06 AM
From: Alex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116972

Gold theft resurrects visions of a bygone era By Nancy Weaver Teichert Bee Staff Writer (Published Aug. 5, 2000) NEVADA CITY Ñ The crime stirs echoes of gold mining days. Jack Ian Miller, 37, of Sacramento was bound over Thursday for trial on charges that he broke into a Grass Valley home March 5 and stole some $96,000 in gold coins and nuggets and $41,500 in cash. Miller and an 18-year-old female accomplice are accused of burglarizing a McCourtney Road home shared by David Holden and Donald Albrecht, according to testimony during Miller's preliminary hearing before Nevada County Superior Court Judge Carl F. Bryan. The March burglary bears a certain similarity to several committed during the heyday of the Gold Rush. Sierra Nevada historians tell of workers laboring in the big corporate-owned mines such as the Idaho-Maryland or the Northstar who would "high grade" or help themselves to some of the gold. "High-graders" would spirit small amounts of gold out of the mine and hide it in their homes. This practice inspired a sub-industry of burglars and thieves who would break into the homes of suspected "high-graders" in search of the secret hordes of gold. But the stolen stash of gold coins, gold and silver nuggets and quartz specimens owned by Albrecht -- a retired U.S. Bureau of Mines employee -- came from diligent and honest collecting, according to court documents and testimony. The prosecution maintains that Miller stumbled on Albrecht's stash by accident while searching for cash. He allegedly was told of the cash by his stepson's girlfriend, 18-year-old Melissa Urban of Sacramento. According to testimony, Holden told Urban he had received an insurance settlement of $52,000 and kept the cash hidden at home to avoid the scrutiny of the IRS. Urban passed the information on to Miller and then helped lure Holden and Albrecht out of their house for a dinner date to facilitate the burglary, according to testimony. Holden told authorities that about $41,500 in cash was taken during the March break-in. Albrecht, who was described in court as a serious gold collector, reported that one of the stolen coins was an 1850 territorial gold piece -- said to be one of only six in existence and valued at $50,000. Assistant District Attorney Ron Wolfson said Miller was arrested in Reno after pawning the gold coins, all of which have been recovered. He remains in the Nevada County jail, awaiting a trial date. Urban was taken into custody at Grant High School, Wolfson said, and had a $100 bill in her possession with a serial number matching one of those that Holden had reported stolen. Urban's trial on charges of burglary and receiving stolen property is scheduled to start Tuesday, but felony status talks with prosecutors are continuing, according to Deputy Public Defender Richard Wilcox. She is free on $25,000 bail. sacbee.com