Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ROY — Randy Jones turned his long-time hobby into a part-time business.
"I've been collecting since I was 8 years old, so 37 years," said Jones.
Jones is a coin dealer and runs a booth inside an antique store in Roy called WBY Outfitters.
"Business has been good," said Jones.
But sometime before 5 a.m. Saturday morning, the store owner called Jones after finding shattered glass everywhere, a large rock on the floor and Jones's display cases empty.
"Devastating, devastating," said Jones. "It's a knot in your stomach like no other."
Surveillance video shows two people in hoodies in the store. Jones said they shattered his main glass case with a screwdriver and then quickly filled a bin with more than 200 coins and coin sets.
"You feel violated," said Jones. "Most of the stuff that was in the cases were graded Morgan Dollars — a lot of raw coins."
And that adds up to a lot of change.
"About $10,000 is what was in the case," Jones said.
The thieves were quick, taking about one minute and 30 seconds to take the coins.
"There's no words to describe it," said Jones. "It's a feeling that I don't wish on anybody."
Jones believes the thieves have more than likely been in the store before, acting as customers, but in reality, casing the place.
"I have no doubt that they've been in before, and I've probably helped them choose things and taught them about the business a bit."
Jones says he has serial numbers and certificates for every coin and is hoping that will help prevent the thieves from selling them.
There is surveillance video from the parking lot that may have caught the thieves' vehicles, and Jones said he plans to turn the video over to police.
Contributing: Xoel Cardenas
