Green Bay man found guilty of stealing more than $43,000 worth of gold coins
APPLETON WS October 14 2022– A man charged with stealing more than $43,000 worth of gold coins from a Kimberly business was found guilty of retail theft of greater than $10,000 Tuesday in Outagamie County Circuit Court.
Travis Burrell, 38, of Green Bay, pleaded no contest to the felony charge of retail theft.
A no-contest plea accepts a guilty verdict without accepting or denying any guilt.
The theft was reported March 28. Officers were called to Voecks’ Fox Valley Coin and Diamonds Etc., 103 E. Kimberly Ave., where an employee said a man came in looking for “20 coins,” then took out a “wad of money,” according to the criminal complaint.
Another employee showed the man a tube of 20 gold coins, worth more than $2,000 each, and the man grabbed the tube from the employee and ran outside without saying a word, the complaint said.
A security guard from the business chased after the man and “fired several rounds from a handgun” as the man left in a vehicle, according to Fox Valley Metro Police.
Multiple witnesses and a security camera saw a vehicle driving through the area at a high speed after the incident. It was stopped by officers in Winnebago County. Burrell was driving the vehicle, which was registered to his female passenger, the complaint said.
Burrell spoke with an investigator, but his story “changed numerous times,” according to the complaint.
Burrell said he committed the theft with a friend, and indicated his friend had been the one driving and the one to go inside the business and steal the coins, which he had then dropped in the parking lot.
Burrell admitted he had a “lengthy criminal record for stealing in Minnesota,” according to the complaint. He told the investigator he searched online and found Voecks’ because he specifically looks for places that have gold coins, which he then melts down to make untraceable.
Burrell’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 22.
