This happened about a month ago: One trucker died and two others were injured in a pre-dawn crash that left $182,000 worth of nickels on Interstate 95 near Orlando, the Sentinel says.
State troopers and federal agents "are securing the scene, while local members of the Treasury are en route," according to Florida Today. "The Treasury employees will pick up all the nickels."
By our calculations, the U.S. Mint will have to pick up 3.64 million coins.
A state police spokesman tells the paper, a fellow Gannett publication, that "anyone who might stop to collect nickels -- even one nickel -- would face federal charges since the nickels belong to the Treasury Department."
And now heres the update and shocker:Last month, we told you about a deadly crash that left nearly $200,000 worth of nickels on a highway in Florida. That posting quoted a police spokesman warning the public that anyone caught stealing the coins, which belong to the Treasury Department, would face federal charges.
Fast-forward three weeks. Florida Today reports today that the Brevard County Sheriff's Office is investigating allegations that at least one deputy stole some of the nickels.
“All we are allowed to say is that there is an active internal investigation going on that started on Sept. 26,” spokeswoman Sgt. Linda Moros tells the paper. “The investigation was authorized by the sheriff and it was brought about internally.”
A few days after the crash, which claimed one life, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman said troopers were searching for "at least four motorists who stuffed their pockets with nickels" that fell out of the U.S. Mint truck.
We were surprised to learn that some of the coins are still sitting on the side of Interstate 95.
(c) USA Today, a division of Gannett Co., Inc.
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