Five arrested in multi-state investigation into antiques stolen in Cheyenne

Jan. 10—CHEYENNE — Five people have been arrested in connection with an investigation that spanned three states and involved the burglary of three Cheyenne homes that housed rare coins, police memorabilia and firearms owned by a former coin store operator.

According to court documents, two separate incidents that took place in the last weeks of 2023 led to the investigation, conducted by the Cheyenne Police Department. First was the arrest of Michael Townsend and Kenneth Cain in Abilene, Texas, on Nov. 22. The second was the report of a burglary at a 26th Street residence in Cheyenne on Dec. 12.

Townsend and Cain, both residents of Cheyenne, were arrested in Texas, and police officers in Abilene located several sets of rare coins, watches and other valuables. A detective in Abilene then reached out to a detective in Cheyenne, providing them with photographs of the items, at that time only suspected by Abilene police as being stolen. Court documents indicated that the two men gave conflicting reports about who owned the coins and antiques.

On Dec. 12, Cheyenne resident Rick Walsh reported a burglary at a property on West 26th Street. Walsh also owned two properties nearby — one a few blocks away in the 400 block of East 26th Street and another around the corner from there in the 2600 block of Van Lennen Avenue. He told police that all three were used as storage, and that he was missing roughly 70 firearms and $250,000 in "collectable coins." He also reported other antiques as missing.

During an interview, Walsh told a detective that he used to be the proprietor of a coin shop in Cheyenne called Wyoming Mint, which closed around 1982. After the closure, he said he transferred much of his collection to a safe kept at the West 26th Street property.

Court documents indicate that, by Dec. 20, the investigation began to connect the pair arrested in Texas with the local burglaries. That day, CPD officers arrested Desiree Pantoja, who lived with Cain and was allegedly part of a plot to sell some of the stolen goods in pawn shops. Pantoja and Cain's residence was surveilled by detectives as early as Dec. 11.

After a few days of surveillance on their residence, detectives followed the pair, along with another woman, to Fort Collins, Colorado, where they observed a friend of theirs selling some of the stolen goods at a pawn shop. On Dec. 20, Cain and Pantoja were arrested, and some coins were retrieved from their residence.

During a jail interview, Pantoja told detectives "she knew the coins located inside her residence had been stolen from multiple residences in the Cheyenne area." She told detectives that Townsend gave Cain the coins, and admitted to selling some of them at stores in the area.

The investigation continued into the new year, with detectives obtaining a search warrant for the residence of Townsend and his girlfriend, Bailee Martinez, on Jan. 4. Detectives said they found "numbers of silver coins consistent with those stolen from Walsh." Their value was estimated at more than $1,000, documents indicated. At that time, Townsend and Martinez were arrested for possession of stolen property.

Townsend was read his Miranda Rights and was interviewed by the case's lead detective on the day of his arrest.

"Townsend stated in November of 2023 that he burglarized an unoccupied residence in the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, with Cain," his probable cause affidavit read. "Townsend stated they stole approximately 12 boxes of silver and collectables and three rifles, which he later split with Cain. (He) stated he stored these items in the storage unit used by Martinez."

Townsend then told the detective that Martinez had sold around 60 rolls of silver dimes that he had stolen to a coin shop in Cheyenne to pay for the $4,000 bond he had from his arrest in Abilene. He also said that he possessed the stolen items "knowingly."

According to the affidavit, CPD conducted a similar interview with Martinez, where her account lined up with that of Townsend. She also mentioned selling two stolen revolvers at Cheyenne pawn shops.

A fifth person, Timothy Duke, was arrested in connection with the case on Jan. 4. Officers surveilled his house and arrested him on an unrelated warrant after obtaining a search warrant on Duke's property in connection with the stolen coins. According to Townsend, Duke, a former roommate, gave him the information about Walsh's properties.

"Duke had told him that he had located several residences in Cheyenne, Wyoming, that were unoccupied that had thousands of silver and gold coins and numerous firearms," Duke's probable cause affidavit read. "Townsend stated Duke regularly stole items from these residences and stored the items in his apartment on Lunsford Drive. Townsend stated Duke had stolen so many items from the residence he was running out of storage in his apartment, and described small paths through boxes of stolen items inside the apartment."

Townsend said in his interview that he saw Duke with some gold coins "valued at approximately $2,000 each" on Oct. 31. He assumed these were stolen from one of Walsh's homes. He stole one of these coins from Duke, and was able to obtain $1,900 for it that same day, court documents indicated.

On Jan. 4, detectives spoke with Dennis Conner, proprietor of the Wyoming Rare Coin Gallery. Conner identified Duke by photograph, and police were able to recover several sets of coins and "approximately 60 antique Wyoming police badges" that Duke had sold to Conner. Walsh's name, and the name of his former business, were on some of the packaging for these collections.

In his own interview, Walsh had told detectives about the unique labeling system he'd had for some of his coins and memorabilia, allowing detectives to verify that the coins belonged to him.

On Friday, court documents indicate that CPD spoke with Duke's girlfriend, who told detectives she "knew of several hidden items that were not found during the service of the search warrant." She showed detectives a "fake trailer hitch" on Duke's vehicle. When opened, the hitch had 11 gold coins, detectives said. They assessed the value of those coins to be roughly $4,924.

She also led detectives inside, where they she showed them a "hiding place ... underneath a piece of furniture" where $4,350 worth of older bills was hidden. The bills were in a blue Bank of the West bag, which Walsh said his mother had used to store more than $20,000 in "older U.S. currency."

The charges against Pantoja and Cain have both been bound over to Laramie County District Court, while the other three's cases remain in Circuit Court. Four of the five defendants are facing one theft charge. Cain faces two theft charges, along with an additional charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Samir Knox is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice and public safety reporter. He can be reached by email at sknox@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3152. Follow him on Twitter at @bySamirKnox.