Article published Friday, September 30, 2005
Noe stole BWC cash for home, Petro says
Check forgery, false profits also alleged
By JAMES DREW and STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITERS
COLUMBUS — Attorney General Jim Petro yesterday presented evidence alleging that Tom Noe used money from Ohio’s rare-coin venture to buy his former Catawba Island home, landscape his property in the Florida Keys, and show an imaginary profit to the state.
Calling it a “pure misappropriation of public funds,” Mr. Petro charged that Mr. Noe engaged in check forgery, presented false profits, and stole millions from the $50 million Capital Coin I and II funds he managed for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
Mr. Petro has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state against Mr. Noe, claiming the former Toledo-area coin dealer and Republican fund-raiser defrauded the bureau of millions of dollars.
Yesterday, the attorney general asked Judge David Cain of Franklin County Common Pleas Court to “lock down” the proceeds of all asset sales by Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette, until the case is decided.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050930/NEWS24/50930002