A young couple in Washington state may be guilty of committing an expensive crime for pennies on the dollar. Dakoda Garren, 19, has been charged with stealing a rare coin collection worth $100,000 and spending the coins at face value on a movie and pizza with his girlfriend.
The Columbian reports that a woman living in Woodland had her family coin collection stolen in May and says that Garren and his girlfriend Elizabeth Massman were the only people to visit her home during that period, when they were hired to do some part-time work.
Garren denied the accusation back in May, telling police they "didn't have any evidence against him," according to a report filed in Cowlitz County Superior Court.
But then Garren and Massman allegedly began using the coins at local establishments, spending them at face value, including a quarter that is estimated to be worth thousands of dollars.
The Daily News reports the collection includes a variety of rare coins, such as Liberty Head quarters, Morgan dollars and several others dating back to the early 1800s.
After conducting their investigation, police now say the couple spent several 1930s coins at a Battle Ground-area movie theater, using quarters worth between $5 and $68 each.
Later on the same day, they spent more of the coin collection at a local pizza restaurant, including a Liberty quarter with an estimated value between $1,100 and $18,500.
Garren has been charged with first-degree theft and is being held in jail on $40,000 bail. Which, technically, is an amount he could easily afford if the valuable coin collection were actually his.
For now, police have declined to detain Massman, saying she is nine months pregnant.
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