Bonner County Prosecuting Attorney 226 Page: 1 Incident Number: 10-016784 Nature:Theft/Property Case Numbers: Addr: Area:L3s BCSO District 3 South City: Sagle St: ID Zip: 83860 Contact: Cyndi Steel, G 07295 Complainant: Alert Codes: E Lst: Fst: Mid: DOB: **/**/** ssn: Adr: Rac: Sx: Tel: Cty: St: Zip: Reported: TPOT Theft, Property, Other Observed: TPOT Theft, Property, Other Offense Codes: TPOT Theft, Property, Other Circumstances: Responding Officers: Deal, J 171 Rspnsbl Officer: Deal, J Agency: BCSO Received By: Collins, M Last RadLog: 17:58:26 09/21/10 CMPLT How received: T Telephone Clearance: RT Report taken When Reported: 16:00:17 09/21/10 Dispostition: INA Disp Date: 11/04/10 Occurrd between: 16:00:17 09/21/10 Judicial Sts: and: 16:00:17 09/21/10 Misc Entry: Modus Operandi: Factor Description Method INVOLVEMENTS: Date Description Relationship Bonner County Prosecuting Attorney 226 Page: 2 Deputy Report Narrative Section --------- 0171/121 Report of theft _________ Offense: Theft Victim: Name: Cyndi G Steele DOB: (redacted) SOC/OLN: (redacted) Address: (redacted) Sagle, Idaho 83860 Phone: (redacted) Audio: No Video: No Photographs: No Evidence: No Officer(s) Involved: Deputy Jeremy Deal 0171 Narrative: On 09/21/10, I was requested to make phone contact with Cyndi Steele regarding a theft of Silver coins. Upon my phone contact with Steele I was told $45,000.00 to $50,000.00 of Silver had been taken from her home. Steele said the Silver coins were about 1 oz in weight and were kept in four locations on the property. Steele said the coins were last seen in April or May of 2010. I was told the coins were noticed missing in the second week of June. Steele told me she suspected Larry Fairfax as a suspect, since he had access to these places on the property during that time. Steele said she did not report it until now since she did not know what the FBI really had. Steele said she knew that FBI took some of the coins, but recently was only returned a portion of them. Steele was unsure if the FBI had more coins or not. Steele said the coins were kept in her Master bedroom, car barn, equipment shed, and shop. Steele said she had by her accounting 9,047 silver coins total. Steele said the FBI returned to her, 6,180 silver coins. The missing coins I was told may be with the FBI, but she did not know. I was not given a good reason for not reporting this sooner when asked. Steele values the Silver at about $18.00 per coin. I was told the coins were contained in small boxeS in the out buildings. Since the length in time and multiple people entering those locations over the past months, and being told of nothing in those areas that may be of evidentiary value I did not respond. Steele said she would drop off a voluntary statement for me and as of the time of this report I have not received it. Steele did say the property is coverd by home owners insurance. The insurance company is (redacted) and the policy number is (redacted). *I am not sure of the date the FBI was on the Steele's property and am not sure if the missing coins are still being retained by the FBI.* Bonner County Prosecuting Attorney 226 page 3 Deputy Report Report by:Deputy Jeremy Deal 0171 Typed by:Deputy Jeremy Deal 0171/CH Approved By: Sergeant Chris Bell #121 Wed Sep 22 04:18:21 PDT 2010 Copies to: Detectives ---------------- Responsible LEO: ---------------- Approved by: ---------------- Date Bonner County Prosecuting Attorney 226 page 3 Law Supplemental Narrative: Details Incident Number 10-016784 Name Burke, H Sequence Number: 1 Date 12:38:41 11/10/2010 Narrative (See below) ======== Narrative: ________ Offense:Theft Victim: Name: Cyndi G Steele (Edgar) DOB:(redacted) SOC/OLN:(redacted) Address:(redacted) Sagle, Idaho PHONE: Narrative: On 10/25/10, I received a report of theft. The victim in this case is Cyndi G Steele. At the time of this report, there was no supplement by Cyndi Steele, however, one was attached in the master file. This voluntary statement gives the time of this theft as between 05/01/10 and 06/15/10. During this period of time, Edgar Steele, Cyndi's husband, was residing at the residence and is presently a subject of a federal case being prosecuted by Tracy Whelan, United States Assistant Attorney General. It has been disccovered in the investigation of this theft that accusations of the missing money overlaps the Fedeal investigation and ownership and dispersion of such funds as are mentioned in this report are in fact possible evidence in a Fedeal case. It is not the intent of this investigation to intrude or overlap a Federal case but will observe the Federal case in the event that rulings or evidence are presnted in that case that could reflect on this case. There were suggestions made by Cyndi in her voluntary statement that an effort be put into checking silver transactions by a suspect she mentions in the theft case, as Lawrence Andrew Fairfax, and possible relatives living at (redacted) Sagle, Idaho. There were two Firfax's showing at (redacted). One was Richard Douglas Fairfax, date of birth (redacted) and a Karla Fairfax, date of birth (redacted) All three subjects were checked through a national database, Spokane County, which includes Rathdrum and Coeur d' Alenedatabase, as well as our local database, and a hand search done of paper receipts dating back through May at Gunber Schloss Collectors's Cabinet, a local dealer who deals in silver and gold and does not maintain a digital database. This search did not yield any transactions by Lawrence or any of the occupants at (redacted) in Sagle. Cyndi's statement also includes an insurance company, (redacted) with a policy number of (redacted) mentioning the insurance company would be yet another victim in this theft if a claim were made. The investigation looked into that number and found that it was a member number assigned to Edgar Steele, the husband of Cyndi Steele and was not a policy number. Also, the policy was checked and there was no underwritten coverage for an excess amount of silver or gold limits on the claim, would have been $250 as a personal property claim. It appears at this time, no claim has been made by any insurance company on the missing silver. At this time, all the information was collected and a meeting was scheduled with Bonner Country Deputy Prosector, Larry Goins. Deputy Prosecutor Goins did not feel the case had enough problable cause to purse theft charges against Lawrence Fairfax, as the accusation was an assumption, not necessarily supported by facts and there was no substantial proof that the silver was actually in the location that Cyndi Steele is claiming it was in, based on the information she apparently received from Edgar. The Federal case supports the Country Prosecutor's conclusion and adds that the Federal case is ongoing and when adjudicated, may reflect answers to some of the assumptions made by Cyndi. Therefore, the County case will clear inactive, until the Federal case is adjudicated and clarifies values in amounts of potential property owned by Edgar Steele, which will be disclosed in the Federal case and is not part of public record. Also, the county case will reflect that according to news articles, the Federal case charges reflect the potential that communications between Edgar and Cyndi may have been distorted during the period in which Cyndi believes thaese items were taken and the Federal case will also deisclose those activities, which are presently not part of public record. Report by:Deputy Sergeant Howard Burke #08 Typed by: Approved By: Lieutenant Doug Harris #10 Mon Nov 01 15:53:09 PDT 2010