Coins, cigars and wine seized from home of Noe's former employee

[Robbien]

Investigators seized hundreds of rare coins, Cuban cigars, computers, documents, and took custody of 3,500 bottles of wine over the weekend during searches of the home and office of a former employee of Tom Noe, a spokesman for the Jefferson County, Colorado, Sheriff’s Office said today.

As many as 10 investigators and lab technicians spent 12 hours on Friday scouring the Evergreen, Colorado, home of Michael Storeim, a former manager of Numismatic Professionals, which is a subsidiary of Ohio’s $50 million rare-coin venture. Investigators then turned their attention to the offices of Michael Storeim Inc., where they spent six hours seizing documents, invoices and computers, said Jacki Tallman, a spokesman for the sheriff.

. . .

On Friday, The Blade reported that Colorado investigators had begun acting on a search and seizure warrant pertaining to the suburban Denver end of the investigation. At least 121 state-owned coins worth about $400,000 have been reported missing or stolen from the Colorado office

. . .

Mr. Storeim has filed a lawsuit against Mr. Noe, claiming the Maumee coin dealer directed at least two associates to take $500,000 worth of his property. Mr. Noe’s attorneys told Ohio authorities last month that at least $10 million of the state’s assets are missing.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050606/DEVELOPINGNEWS/50606010

[Selteri]

1. so this has no expanded...

From just Ohio to Colorado, California and the Federal levels by the amount of graft, I suspect it will continue to grow and get worse.

[Amonester]

2. Bandits rule...

(not for any longer, if only 'some' would decide to just... stand up)

(and fight) peacefully... but strongly, for honesty to prevail.

Are We Asking For Too Much?

If Not, Thanks.

:hangover:

[gratuitous]

3. Since it appears that he might have crossed state lines

Since Mr. Storeim may have crossed state lines while in possession of these items, I wonder if he'll be liable for a federal charge or two? There could be some serious jail time in the offing.

Unless, of course, he's all born again and everything and Jesus changed his life and his heart. Then everything's okay.

[KaliTracy]

16. He was Based in Colorado. He didn't cross state lines. Noe and he

worked together (Noe employed him).

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050519/NEWS24/505190453

Ex-Noe associate says he's not to blame for lost coins

By STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITER


A Colorado coin dealer entangled in a dispute with Tom Noe, the manager of a $50 million Ohio-funded coin venture, fired back at his former boss yesterday, claiming that he is not to blame for the misappropriation of 121 state-owned coins.


The Evergreen, Colo., coin-trader, Michael Storeim, released a statement yesterday addressing allegations that he was part of a "grand scheme of deception" that led to the disappearance of about $400,000 worth of coins owned by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. The bureau, which is charged with paying the claims of injured workers, announced last week that it was dissolving its investment in Mr. Noe's Capital Coin funds amid management concerns.

Mr. Noe and his associates have charged that Mr. Storeim, while manager of Capital Coin subsidiary Numismatic Professionals in Colorado, likely misappropriated more than 100 coins. Mr. Storeim, for his part, filed a lawsuit against Mr. Noe last week, alleging that the Maumee coin dealer wrongly instructed at least two employees to seize $500,000 of personal property from his suburban Denver office in March, 2004.

"Claims that Mr. Storeim has profited by dishonest behavior are simply not true," Mr. Storeim said in the statement released through Brian Jeffrey, his Evergreen, Colo., attorney. "While we regret that Mr. Noe has left us no alternative but to pursue legal action, we look forward to the resolution of our legal case and the restoration of Mr. Storeim's good reputation."

more...

[meow2u3]

21. Not if he's a Bush Pioneer

Bush Pioneers and Rangers can do no wrong. They're above the law :sarcasm:

[AlCzervik]

4. Wow!! ya know for a story thats flown under the msm media

radar this thing is getting better day by day.

[Robbien]

5. If the Blade didn't keep pursuing the story it would have died

This story is fascinating, it would make great TV. Too bad we will never see any of it on ABCCBSNBC.

[AlCzervik]

i've been trying to post every new part on my blog

i haven't gotten to them all yet but I'm getting a lot of traffic and some interesting referrals. I've had so many people tell me "i never even heard about this story". Gotta keep spreading the word.

[realisticphish]

6. locally

it's been getting a LOT of coverage

[TOhioLiberal]

10. Wall to wall...

...coverage here (obviously, being in Toledo). A lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth by the local talking heads...at first they were saying that rare coin investments are OK, the Blade just has it in for the virtuous (:eyes:) Tom Noe. As the story has developed, they are being more quiet about it. Of course they, along with the local Repubs, claim that if it was a Dem that did this the Blade wouldn't be pushing it as hard as they are.

[realisticphish]

11. Suprisingly

the Columbus Disgrace has had pretty good coverage; i will say this about them, they ARE independant

[TOhioLiberal]

13. The Blade...

...for the most part, actually lives up to the 'liberal' label it has been given.

[sickinohio]

25. Some rePuke (in Toledo) where I work

was about to cry the other day - she just feels SOOO bad and knows that Noe made a "mistake" (of course she would NEVER believe that it's the WHOLE crooked rePuke party) here in Toledo (and all of Ohio for that matter) that's involved. What a dumb-as* bit*ch. I just wanted to scream - JEEZ you religious fanatic - can you REALLY not see how crooked all these people are????? Anyway, I say bring them all down - from the WH all the way down to the local Lucas County rePuklicons!! AND - I just have a gut feeling that the rePukes ARE the ones who broke in to the Dem headquarters and took the computers etc right before the election - No one is even talking about that!!!

[TOhioLiberal]

26. not surprised...

...there's a lot of stuff from 2004 that no one's talking about.

And yes, they are really that blind. Or so psychologically invested in the whole 'Bush is a great president' :puke: that they refuse to see otherwise.

[aquart]

7. They invested in wine, too???

[AlCzervik]

8. could be the wine is thought to have been gotten with dirty money

[Robbien]

9. They invested in Beanie Babies

and Bush clocks. Plus signed Christmas cards from President Kennedy.

Don't you love knowing your tax dollars are being invested so wisely.

[aquart]

22. Please be joking.

Pretty please?

[Robbien]

23. So sorry to disappoint

The Blade has a large list of what has been confiscated (which I cannot locate right now) but this post at Think Progress gives you a good idea of the kind of items picked up:

George W. Bush wall clocks. A Lance Armstrong jersey. Tickets from the 1980 Olympics “Miracle on Ice". And don’t forget that solid rock of all investment strategies: Eighteen Beanie Babies ®.

http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=1000

Noe probably picked up the furry bean bags from some GOP friend who was looking to unload.

[indie_voter]

27. I would love to see the wine list

How many bottles of 2000 Bordeaux is in there? How many bottles of Petrus?

Burgundy?

Any Screaming Eagle?

Dang.

[lostnfound]

12. They will surely do their best to make the employee the fall guy

in exchange for a nice plea bargain, he pretends that it was a 1-man operation?

[Toucano]

15. Ding Ding Ding Ding!

We have a winner!

[Casper]

14. We have to keep pushing this

Tell your friends, talk this up. This is a fantastic example of how sleazy and greedy these guys are. Brave to the Toledo Blade for their terrific coverage.

Blackwell, et al are going down for this one. But we *have* to keep it simmering at the top.

[Doremus]

17. Oh, Hackwell is way ahead of us ...

He is on record as being against these ridiculous investments from the get-go.

This debacle will probably be the centerpiece of his campaign. If they had only listened to me, none of this would have happened.

You watch.

[MelissaB]

18. Link to lots of "Coingate" articles in ER&D

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x374922

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

[MelissaB]

19. Bush met with Noe...

Make sure you look at post #26

[Judi Lynn]

20. He should have to explain how he got the Cuban cigars

since his Republican pResident _{George W. Bush} has all but attached a death sentence to any ordinary American's attempted travel to Cuba!

He needs to come clean and 'splain just who the hell gave him dose dere cigars.

It's what Desi would want.

[BrightKnight]

24. deleted -n/t

posted in error

[jazzjunkysue]

28. So many dems told me "Fixing Ohio would be impossible: too many

people would have to be involved that it wouldn't be possible. "

Well, how many people knew about all this stealing in Ohio? Lots! And they all went along with it, until the government accountants found the accounts emptied.

There's no limit to the numbers of co-conspriators in Ohio, and hopefully, this will unearth similar wrong-doing in other states.

Kids, this is called retribution. And I'm going to enjoy every single second of it.