Trucker missing; so is cargo of 3.6 million nickels

[Chicago Democrat]

Trucker missing; so is cargo of 3.6 million nickels

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A truck driver has disappeared with the 3.6 million nickels he was hauling to the Federal Reserve Bank in New Orleans, police said Friday.

Angel Ricardo Mendoza, 43, picked up the coins, worth $180,000, December 17 from the Federal Reserve in New Jersey and was supposed to haul the cargo -- weighing 45,000 pounds -- to New Orleans for a trucking company subcontracted by the Federal Reserve, police said.

On December 21, Mendoza's empty truck and trailer turned up at a truck stop in Fort Pierce, Florida.

snip

"We are concerned for his safety because he's missing," Miami-Dade Detective Randy Rossman said. "We suspect foul play. We are concerned and we are still investigating."

rest at...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/08/missing.nickels.ap/index.html

[UpInArms]

1. wow! $180,000 in nickels!

we had all better be on the lookout for those small change thieves!

[vogonjiltz]

2. Boy, I'd hate

...to be in line behind them at the CoinStar machine.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. Alert!

Look for 43 year old Hispanic with bulging pockets! He will jingle as he walks! LOL! I hope he's ok, if it was robbers...

[Webster Green]

4. Terrorists?

That would make a hell of a cluster bomb if they mixed them in with ammonium-nitrate and deisel fuel.

[auntAgonist]

5. I hope the driver hasn't been left for dead somewhere

Having lived in a 'trucking family' for most of my life I can only imagine what another family must be going through.

[CO Liberal]

6. I'd Start Looking In The Casinos in Cripple Creek

Especially around the nickel slot machines.

[Chicago Democrat]

13. Bingo...

You'd make a good criminal!

[jmowreader]

7. Would a scumbag kill for $180,000? Oh yeah.

Okay, it's gonna take a while to turn $180,000 worth of nickels into folding money, but it's possible to do.

[Chicago Democrat]

12. A very long while....

60,000 rolls of nickels...

So traceable.. so noticable.

[Retired AF Dem]

21. The Fed doesn't ship coin in rolls

It ships them in large canvas sacks. In my company a fed truck will drop off the bags. A bag is hoisted by a forklift and the coins are poured into a vat which takes them to the boxing machine. For nickels it is in boxes of $100.00.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. I can't fathom

The amount of effort involved in removing 45,000 lbs of nickles and hiding them someplace. All for $180,000? Insane!

I hope the trucker is found and alright.

[murray hill farm]

9. Are nickels made from !00% nickel?

areas where nickel is mined...generally look like the far side of the moon..vegetation basically destroyed around the area..maybe someone wanted nickel for something. What else is it used for..anyone know?

[Chicago Democrat]

11. Nope, Copper/Nickel definately not pure.

[Retired AF Dem]

19. I work for an armored truck company

On an average day I will pickup around 300 boxes of coin at banks and deliver them to different stores on my route. I'm usually worn out at the end of the day. I could not fathom moving that much either.

[Chicago Democrat]

10. HOW TO SPEND 3.6 Millions Nickels?

Um

$2 (one roll) at a time!

Impossible to spend.

[murray hill farm]

14. must be something..

give the rolls as xmas gifts for the rest of your life? Melt it down and make a huge scupture of something? Give them to charity..and deduct from taxes? hmmmmmmm?? Hahahahahaha!!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. There's no way I can come up with to fence them either.

Unless organized crime rings were in dire need of change? :eyes:

[murray hill farm]

16. Tough to store them too, eh?

wonder what they transfered them to after unloading from the truck..ha!! Might be nice to have a lifetime of rolls of change..if it were not for the storage problem.

[soothsayer]

30. casinos, easy as pie

[amazona]

22. you could fence them through casinos

It would take some effort but you can still bring bags of nickels to the casino in SOME areas and get cash back. Better hurry, use of coin has been phased out in Atlantic City and maybe some other areas.

I bring my bags of nickels to my bank and drop them off with a deposit slip. When they are bored, they can put them through the coin counter and then mail back the deposit slip so I'll know what I deposited.

But I'm not trying to do $180K in nickels. You'd need another truck.

I hope the driver will be found OK but it sounds like a professional job to me to hijack and empty this truck, so I just don't know. His family must be sick.

[OneBlueSky]

17. "Yeah, I'll take the Porsche . . . it'll be cash . . .

where's your loading dock?" . . .

[peterh]

23. There’s a part of this story that could be tragic….

But the comic part has no bounds….and my gut is starting to hurt with that one….:thumbsup:

[Blue_Tires]

18. 3.6 million wishes at a fountain?

[truthisfreedom]

20. nickel slots... that's the only way they could spend 'em.

what a ridiculously annoying thing to take possession of! $180,000 worth of nickels...

[Historic NY]

24. I can just see all those blue haired ladies, dumping nickle after nickle..

into slot machines. Maybe this was an organized crime by the Gray Panthers.

[NYC]

25. Privatized transport of U.S. cash to Federal Reserve.

...a trucking company subcontracted by the Federal Reserve...

Interesting.

[Mabel Dodge]

26. You have to be stupid to steal 45,000 of nickels, so I'm guessing

the evil doer has to be a republican.

[Deja Q]

27. Must be a terrorist who can't afford bullets, Uses nickels as ammo instead

:eyes:

[TheWraith]

28. Who jacks 3.6 million nickels? And how? And why?

Given the difficulty in moving, storing, and fencing 22.5 tons of nickels, how is it worth $180,000? There have got to be easier ways to steal a shipment of goods worth $180k--stuff that's simpler to move and dispose of. Consumer electronics come to mind, as do cars.

And what about the driver? You'd think it would have to be a professional job, to move and conceal all that coin without getting caught. Professionals usually avoid killing anyone, because it gives the cops more reason to hunt them down--property crimes versus people crimes. Besides, even professional theives usually have objections to killing civilians. And as I recall, professionals also try to avoid being in league with the driver or someone equally obvious on the inside.

Hmm... talking about this reminds me of an episode of the Sopranos. In the middle of a truck hijacking, while they're holding the driver at gunpoint, Christopher takes a moment out to tell the new guy to keep his pistol vertical, because holding it sideways makes him look unprofessional.

[amazona]

29. don't you really think?

The people who funded this are owners/investors of a small casino somewhere. Almost gotta be.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72