By CHRIS LINDAHL
@cmlindahl
and REBECCA EVERETT
@GazetteRebecca
Daily Hampshire Gazette
EASTHAMPTON — An Easthampton man denied in court yesterday stealing gold flakes and nuggets that his former employer had collected while panning.
Sean C. Miner, 28, of 14 Sunset Ave., pleaded not guilty to charges of larceny over $250, breaking and entering in the daytime to commit a felony and larceny over $250 by false pretense. Northampton District Court Judge W. Michael Goggins set Miner’s bail at $2,500, citing his past convictions. He is due back in court Jan. 12.
According to court documents, Easthampton Police arrested Miner Sunday after he allegedly admitted to the crimes in an interview at the police station. The owner of the gold, Michael Orzel, and his business partner, Ralph Lyman, did some investigating on their own in the days leading up to the arrest because they suspected Miner was responsible.
Orzel reported at 8:09 a.m. on Christmas Eve that about an ounce of gold was missing from a desk drawer in the 2 Hill Ave. office of Michael Orzel Tree Services. Court documents indicate the break-in could have occurred from Dec. 20 to 23. According to Bloomberg, gold was valued at about $1,200 per ounce as of Dec. 24.
Orzel said yesterday that he found the gold himself in New Hampshire, where he pans for the precious metal as a hobby. “There’s a lot of sentimental value to it,” he said when asked by a Gazette reporter the value of the stolen gold.
He said Miner was one of the only people who knew where it was kept. Miner had worked for him during the summer, occasionally helping with various tree and landscaping projects.
Hours after they reported the alleged theft to police, Lyman told police that Ted Blais, owner of Ted’s Creative Jewelers in Southampton, said he had paid $326 to buy gold flakes from a man Dec. 23.
On Dec. 26, Lyman contacted police again to report that Miner had admitted stealing gold, a ring and money from Orzel in a phone conversation with Lyman that was also heard by a friend.
Miner was called into the police station for questioning Sunday and, according to court records, admitted that he broke into the 2 Hill Ave. office by prying a door open with a screwdriver and took the gold flakes and nuggets. He denied taking a ring.
According to court records, he told police he used a friend’s identification card to sell the gold flakes to a jewelry store and had traded the nuggets for a bundle of heroin in Holyoke.
Police indicated in court documents that Miner was charged with larceny over $250 by false pretense because he represented himself as the owner of the gold flakes when selling them to the jewelry store.
