ARTICLE ON THE FAIRBANKS LOCKSMITH NATIONAL BANK NOTE THEFTS

Regarding the above article on the Charles W. Fairbanks $5 National Bank Note, Dick Hanscom writes:

A Dallas auction house selling a rare century-old $5 bill from Fairbanks this month was duped in a separate, unrelated deal last year with a Fairbanks locksmith who sold the company historical bank notes he stole from the estate of a collector.

Fairbanks police say Heritage Auctions pulled the bills from sale after learning it received stolen property from Forrest Holton, who is serving a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to felony theft.

The theft remained undiscovered for months and came to light when estate representatives learned some of the bills were listed for auction in April 2011.

"They thought they had the darn things," Fairbanks police investigator Jim Gibson said.

In his approach to Heritage, Holton claimed he found the bills in a desk kept at an abandoned storage facility that he bought in a foreclosure sale, a transaction that never happened. Holton actually gained access to the bills several times after changing out the locks of four safety deposit boxes belonging to the estate of pioneer Fairbanks banker Bill Stroecker, whose collection included First National Bank of Fairbanks notes signed by his father, who preceded him as bank president.

Altogether, Holton stole about 60 bills, including two uncut sheets of bank notes, said Gibson, who was assigned to the case. The value of the loot was estimated as high as $500,000, the bulk of it from the uncut sheets and the 10 bills Heritage bought for $82,000.

To read the complete article, see: Auctioneer with rare Fairbanks $5 bill duped in other case (newsminer.com/view/full_story/20368497/article-Auctioneer-with
-rare-Fairbanks--5-bill-duped-in-other-case-)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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