This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Riverton, Wyo. • A Utah man has been sentenced to seven years and two months in prison for stealing $1.9 million worth of gold and silver from his parents' home in Wyoming.
Richard Jordan Kennedy, of Randolph, Utah, had pleaded guilty to unlawfully transporting stolen goods across state lines.
An affidavit and other court documents show Kennedy stole gold and silver coins from safes in his parents' home north of Riverton between 2010 and 2013 and sold some of the precious metals for cash in Utah, fueling a long spree of spending and gambling.
The Riverton Ranger reports that Kennedy was sentenced Dec. 12.
Court documents show the stolen items included 440 silver quarters, 115 silver bars weighing 100 ounces, 451 South African 1-ounce Krugerrands, 579 gold eagle coins weighing 1 ounce each, 1,250 U.S. .86-ounce silver Morgan dollars, 225.85 ounces of gold eagle coins and 1,500 silver eagle coins.
Reports from the Fremont County Sheriff's Office show the investigation began on Jan. 21, 2013 when the parents, Howard and Sally Davidson, reported gold, silver, cash and guns they had kept at their home in three safes were missing.
The parents first suspected a former hired hand and a neighbor, court papers say. However, no evidence linked either man to the thefts.
The connection to Kennedy seemed to have started on a suspicion but gained credibility through data from pawn databases.
An FBI special agent investigated pawn databases to find what Kennedy had pawned since December 2009, and found he had been hocking gold, silver and guns beginning in October 2010.
The special agent showed the parents a list of what Kennedy had pawned with Kennedy's name blacked out, and the couple identified several items as missing from their safes.
FBI agents searched Kennedy's home and found gambling receipts from casinos in Wyoming and Nevada.