Deputies recover $6,000 in stolen coins
By Elizabeth Billips lizbillips@yahoo.com

Around $6,000 worth of stolen coins were recovered when a teen tried to spend one on a soda.

Burke County deputies were called to Del-Mac last Friday when the 17-year-old produced a gold Liberty coin worth about $1,000.

Officers searched the teen and his two friends and found five more coins in the back pocket of 20-year-old Samuel Dontez Lewis of Midville.

According to Sgt. Dedric Smith, the coins were mint condition South African Krugerrands, worth about one grand apiece. "They thought they were fake," he said, noting they'd tried to spend the Liberty coin since it was the only one with a denomination on it.

Lewis told deputies he found the coins on a dirt road across the street; however, Sgt. Smith says the coins were reported stolen in a Louisville burglary several days prior.

Lewis was arrested for theft by receiving stolen property.