Truck driver disappears with 3.6 mill nickels!

[jsinger]

Wonder how this story is going to play out>

"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."

[kodaks]

lol...FBI sends note to all major financial institutions in the US:

APB: Be on the lookout for man trying to cash 3.6 million nickels

:)

BTW Full Story:
[newsday.com...]

[jsinger]

What's odd is that this guy and his cargo-- weighing 45,000 pounds!--- have been missing for more than 2 weeks and the story is just coming to light.

Missing driver I can understand. Missing nickels I can understand. But both?

[le_gber]

could he be heading toward las vegas to try and offload his cargo?

sorry I don't know what's the smallest coin you can play on the jackpot machines

[jsinger]

They found the truck in Ft Pierce Florida (which isn't on the route to New Orleans btw). But I wonder whether they checked the nearest parking meter. Could be the driver flipped out and put several trillion years of time on the meter.

[greenleaves]

Isn't the melt value of the coins greater then the monetary value. 45 tons of metal could be worth something on the black market and it is hard to locate the coins once they become something else...

[jsinger]

Nah, at one time the melt on pennies and silver coins nearly approached bullion value. Gov't, around 1964, took most of the silver out. Most copper went about 15 years ago. Don't know for sure about nickels, but probably worth about a penny.

One real possibility is robbers (or the driver) thought the truck was hauling something better. It would be worth pulling this IF it carried quarters. Gov't has been real quiet about this crime.

[Essex_boy]

$180 Th? he must be desperate. ITs not even in notes so much work is he going to have to ut in befiore he can spend?

Oh yeah Mr Salesman id like that car Ill pay cash....

[walkman]

with gas prices it cost more to tranport this stuff cross-country. Plus, how the hell do you "launder" 20+ tons of nickels? Pay for dinner with 20,000 nickels? If the driver did it, he should plead insanity. I'd buy it if I was a juror

[jsinger]

Yep, would have made more economic sense to take the big rig and leave a 50 foot pile of nickels on the road. More fun too.

[balam]

> Wonder how this story is going to play out

Coin machine helps solve case of stolen nickels [azcentral.com]

[too much information]

"Be on the lookout for man making change!"