Gold coin caper ends with arrest of Libby man

Police believe they’ve caught the man responsible for stealing more than $30,000 worth of gold coins from a Libby jewelry store this past fall.

Randal Johns, 44, was arrested last Wednesday on a felony theft charge for allegedly taking a bank bag of valuable coins from a safe at Hall’s Jewelry in Libby and pawning some of them in town.

Johns had worked part-time at Hall’s Jewelry as a goldsmith, according to records filed in justice court, and had raised the suspicion of police after he failed a polygraph test concerning the missing gold. Store owner Greg Hall hired a private technician out of Whitefish to administer a test for each employee, since they all had access to the safe, after he learned that the coins were stolen.

The bank bag was last seen in early September, Hall told police, but the theft wasn’t reported until October.

“They were hoping to find the missing stuff in the store,” Terry Watson of the Libby Police Department said. “They tore the place apart looking for it.”

The lockable bank bag that went missing contained 71 gold coins – five different kinds varying from one-tenth of an ounce to 1 ounce in weight, according to court documents.

Watson made calls to local and regional establishments that buy and sell gold in hopes that the missing property would surface. He located a business in Libby that reported buying coins from Johns that matched the description of Hall’s missing coins.

Johns is accused of selling five or six of the coins – each fetching a price of $1,150-$1,250 – between late September and late October. The purchaser reported that he had since sold the coins and didn’t know their whereabouts. He also reported that Johns sold him scrap gold – rings and chains – in July through August in the amount of $200-$300 per week, according to court documents.

Police believe the broken gold jewelry could have also been stolen. Hall showed authorities a jar in the jewelry store safe that he estimated contained about $11,000 worth of scrap gold.

After police made contact with the business that purchased the coins, the business owner reported last Wednesday that Johns allegedly sold him another coin. Police obtained the property, which was the same kind of coin that was reported stolen, and arrested Johns.

A search of his home didn’t turn up the remaining coins, Watson reported.

Johns’s bond was set at $50,000.