EP 17: Financial Crimes PT. 3

Most of us think of theft as something that happens to someone else, until a real case shows just how vulnerable valuable assets can be.

In this episode, we unpack the incredible story of a $374,000 silver heist in Minnesota, following the events that led to the theft, the investigative clues that exposed the criminals, and the costly mistakes that caused the entire plan to fall apart.

Along the way, we explore practical lessons about protecting valuable assets, why physical security matters more than most people realize, and what this case can teach anyone who owns precious metals or other high-value items.

In this episode:

• How the $374,000 silver theft unfolded
• The key mistakes that led investigators to the suspects
• Practical tips for protecting valuable assets
• Why decades-old crime stories still offer valuable lessons today

Whether you're fascinated by true crime, interested in asset protection, or simply enjoy unraveling real investigations, this episode offers both an engaging story and practical takeaways.

🎧 Listen now and join the conversation.

Follow us on Instagram: @wtf_womentalkfinance | Spotify, YouTube & Apple Podcasts: WTF! Women Talk Finance | The Founders Office: foundersoffice.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm Jackie. I'm Kid. And this is WTF.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Grab your coffee, wine, water bottle, emotional support snack, no judgment, and let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Okay. We've got fun stuff. We've done episodes in the past on financial crimes. Yes. And I think we need to, we need to just unravel that that thread a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Love of financial crime.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Love of financial crime.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

We love a juicy story.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Yeah, we love a murder mystery.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Love a mystery.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Love of financial mystery. That's something we need to do more research on. Yeah. Like unsolved crimes that are financial crimes. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Yeah. Most of the ones we've done have been solved.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

I know. We need well TBD. TBD. We'll find something. Yeah. So tonight, my special little story that I'm sharing is the headline is two charged with stealing $374,000 in silver from an Egan home. This occurred in Minnesota. One suspect was arrested in Montana, while the whereabouts of the second suspect are unknown. I'm not going to say the names. You can Google. Each have been charged with one count of first-degree burglary and one count of theft over $5,000. Very much over $5,000. How heavy do you think $374,000 in silver is? Because I'll tell you, if you keep reading the article, they basically Well it's an ounce.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

What? Isn't it an ounce of silver?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

What I just call it, a bar.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Isn't it a bar? Well, a bar could be anything. A coin is an ounce. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

So I don't know. I'm a US child, so I don't know them. I don't know the metric system. Even if it were like I guess ounces are per pound system. Like how much is 374,000 pounds? Actually, ounces are part of, because it's like three pounds, four ounces. So, but I don't know how many ounces are part of a pound. So I have no idea. 16. I'd be 12. I don't cook. Well, this is about finance, okay? We aren't weighing things here.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I also give us a break. I don't like I don't cook, but if I were to cook, I don't measure things. I guesstimate. Same.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

And I'm not a newborn child, so I don't care how many ounces I weigh when I get on the scale. I round down like everyone else.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

By like five. Round down to the nearest five. Okay. According to the complaint, the pair broke into an Egan home in April of this year and stole several silver bars from the basement. Um, they were aware of the bars because they'd previously lived with the homeowners. And in all, the complaint states about 4,300 ounces of silver was stolen from the home. So if you think about, I don't know if this is equivalent because I'm going to do liquid, but like a thing of water is like what, 12 or 16 ounces? If you get a bottle of water, maybe 24 ounces. I need to look at my ounce ounce. Ouncage.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

I don't think liquid ounces equal pound ounceage. But that does equal just under like three pounds. Is it math or did I have your calculator? 200. If I'm having to carry out 4,300 ounces, I need to know what poundage I need to train for. Okay. Um, my three pound weights that I've been uh, you know, working with lately are not helping me get to 268 pounds of silver.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Rounding up on that, to call it 270 pounds. You'd need to do a couple trips. If you were this thief, you'd need a wheelbarrow and maybe like a pulley system.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

You'd need a full plan.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

And you'd need help. Help. Lots of that's a lot of three-pound weights. A lot of three-pound dumbbells. And you'd have to get it out to your car in multiple trips.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Also, the amount of space that takes up in a vehicle. Think of that.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

4,300 pounds of silver is substantial. It's like three of you in silver. How many of you can you stack in a Toyota for a lot? I want to know how many of you I can carry at once. I could probably carry a third candle at once. It'd be tough. I would be struggling. This would be one, two, three, four or five. This would be a nine-trip errand for me. But worth it, for $374,000. I would make 10 trips of silver to my car. Yeah. Okay, so what happened? They investigators alerted gold and silver purchases, purchasers in the Twin Cities Metro. Smart. Smart. You want to call around to the pawn shops and be like, who is pocking a bunch of silver? A metals dealer contacted investigators after discovering it, had purchased a silver bar with a matching serial number from a coin shop in Anoka where the owner identified the seller. It's 2026. There are cameras. There are cameras and serial numbers and stamps. Other than getting that much silver out the house.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

That feels they had to plan something because I just don't think. Yeah, but this I yeah, this does not feel like a well-thought-out plan.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

And actually, two big men could carry 300 pounds of silver out in probably three trips. You and I aren't doing this.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

This is not a heist, you and I think we're up to the challenge of not happening.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Well, can I add one of the juicy elements?

SPEAKER_02 5:51

The whole reason we even did this was this.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

The reason I know about this whole thing is because I went to high school with one of the guys. And I do know tall gentlemen, big guy can carry lunch.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Not that I know what that means.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Probably about 300 pounds of silver. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

This could be training for this for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Could have been one guy cut the patio door. The guy I know could have gone in, gotten that silver, and they're out of there in under three minutes. Three is such a random number. A couple minutes.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

But then what did they do with the silver?

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah, they went and tried to hawk it. I think they smelt, they melted some of it down.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

They melted some of it.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

But not the one that had the cereal number. Where do you get silver melting equipment? Asking pro friends.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Are we doing a heist later?

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Um I have someone I can ask.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

You've got a guy. Let's find out everything they did wrong. Okay, let's go, let's take this down. Girlies on the pod, listen up. Because we're gonna we're going to break this down on how to do this and not get caught.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Make sure you are not on the short list of like, say someone's missing assets. Totally. And the police come to you and they're like, who knew about this? Yeah. Who knew about your almost $400,000 in silver? Don't be on someone's short list.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Who has $400,000 in silver and has roommates? I've got more questions to be inside.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

They used to be roommates.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

But oh but again, who has $400,000 in silver and had roommates?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

You can have a board, investors, advisors, and still have nobody you can actually talk to about what is really going on. That is not unusual. That is the founder reality. And we step in right there. I'm Tom Powell, and at the founder's office, we're proud to sponsor Women Talk Finance.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Yeah. This just the math isn't mathing on this entire story.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

To be fair, the price of silver really went up. So Roomie 3 could have had a modest amount of silver and two roommates. And they all knew about it. And then he goes and gets his own situation, and the price of silver goes way up. And the old Roomies are like, remember, remember Roomie with all this silver?

SPEAKER_02 8:13

They've been watching silver prices. They're savvy enough to watch silver prices and go, I need to go. Let's go get it. Get that silver. I've been waiting. Silver hit 80. I'm in. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

And you don't know how long they were roommates because from the legal side of things, if they lived together for more than eight years, they could be common-law-so was it their property? It's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Was it theirs? It's an added plot twist. Was it theirs? Then to go sell it at a pawn shop and be caught on camera. And identified by name.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

That's a bummer. If you're gonna go hawk something, you probably have to show your ID, right? So maybe get a fake before you go hawk something.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Not saying I was like anybody who's like buying a lot of silver, don't don't be uh don't be uh disclosing where you're holding that. Probably like if you have a huge amount of some type of asset that is e easy to steal, probably don't be sharing that with people.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Right? Loose lips, yeah, think shots. Yeah. Or make you lose a lot of your assets.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Yeah. So I think that's and I've talked on the pod in the past. I do love buying silver and gold, but I do it as gifts.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

You give it away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

I don't rob me. I don't have $400,000 in silver sitting here. You'll be wildly disappointed.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

And if I am on your short list of knowing what you have, forget I know. Chippy top. Every time I come to your house, I'm just casing the joint. Just casing it.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

I hope you want a.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

There is no silver here. I've been looking for it.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Priceless artwork that my kids did.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

I love kid art.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

My kid art, probably the most valuable thing I own. Probably the most valuable thing in my home.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Give yourself 20 years. You're gonna have a lot of antiques.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

So many antiques.

unknown 10:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Vintage 90s jeans, also. Okay, so so that's from your hometown. You have a connection to this story. So I thought I would kind of tag along on the hometown silver story. Okay. Okay. So um Redfield is a really big name in my area. It's it's a big name? Yeah. Like a family name. Yeah, family name, very like philanthropic family. And when I was growing up there just down the street, like not far from here, there is a Redfield mansion. It's a beautiful house. It's made out of stone, like like rocks, like river rocks. And there's a lot of houses here like that, but this one's like is it someone's residence right now? Yeah, it's a private residence. Um it's particularly interesting because it's like a stacked river rock and it's quite large and it's kind of stands out on this road. And all my childhood, it's always been told about the um the silver dollar king. That when the person died, they found just hordes, hordes, millions and millions of dollars in silver.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Original owner. He hid it in the house. He hid it in the house, yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

So um Levier Redfield um was the person who owned this house. There's so much like weird tie in with this story. So he was not born into money, um, born during um born I think in the late late 1800s, made his money during the stock market crash in the 20s.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

During the 20s, the 30s, okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Yes, he made his money then because he just had this knack for buying bootlegging. Yeah, bootlegging. Well, yes, probably that too. He sounds I'm not I don't want to be unfair to anyone. No, he doesn't deserve a lot of credit on things, he had his own challenges, but um, he bought some stocks and did pretty well. And he left into some and into like a bank, I don't want to say left in, but he had some banking experience. He did pretty well for himself. Then he started buying distressed assets. Okay, like he just kind of had this knack for buying buying low and selling high. And he started, he didn't trust banks though.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Under the mattress, safest place for it.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Very much like this under the mattress coffee cans in the backyard, but also he didn't trust the government. Dude did not want to pay his taxes. So that's what brought him to Reno. He wanted a state with no income taxes, but he also didn't want to give the federal government anything either. So dude did a stint in prison in jail for 18 months. Oops, little tax evasion situation. Um but this whole time he's hoarding, hoarding silver, hoarding silver, and building secret rooms in his basement. There were false walls to like hide.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

I love a secret room. I love a false wall.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

I love a secret room, love a false room. Hiding silver. And but he wasn't very apparently, even though he built these secret rooms, not very secretive about it. So at some point in the 50s, because Reno's a small town, people found out about it, burglars broke into his home and they stole uh quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Was he uh still alive at the time or was there a new owner?

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Okay, yeah, they stole a safe. Um, and so it was at the time one of the largest like residential thefts in US history. How did like over two million dollars in silver that was sitting in one safe?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

I don't know how big this safe was.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Also, do you watch all these movies where someone's stealing a safe? And it is a thing. I'm thinking about this show on Netflix called Animal Kingdom to start. It's not about animals. I mean, it's about humans that behave like animals. It's about this crime family in Southern California, and it's this mother that had like four boys, and basically she raised them to be part of like her crime syndicate. So she finds projects and she sends the boys.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

I love a good family business story.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Run by a matriarch.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Run by a baddie.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

She's a baddie, yeah. Um big plans, and then she's got her little her boys. Yep, sends her boys out. They have to really again. This is TV, okay, but they have to really plan to steal a safe. There are several different state safe heists, and you need major equipment, you need saws, you need trucks, you need dollies, stethoscope. Yeah. Yes, yes, you we watch the same TV. We a little bit of crime junkies here. You need all this equipment. So I'm curious. In the 50s, I want like, did anybody get photos? Probably not.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea. I should I should see.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

There's like police, like evidence locker. Like, what's that safe look like?

SPEAKER_02 15:33

I know. I have no idea. How do you get it out of the house? It had jewelry and other things in it, but I mean, my god, that's a lot. And in I mean, it could be in today's money, to be fair. So, like it could be, it's a substantial amount. He also had like a postage stamp. Um collector's. Yes, like he had he did not want things to be like he did, he just wanted alternative forms of assets, but he kept it all on his property, which I always find really interesting. I don't keep those types of assets. Like in your case, you're the person who had 400,000. They kept that at their house. At their house. Yeah. You may not want to be keeping that. It's what safe deposit boxes are for, right? Maybe you shouldn't be keeping that level O.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Unless you're who's the duck, the grandfather duck. It's not Scrooge. Who's the one he has the money pit at his house, the big vault that you can dive in and swim? If I had that. Yeah, maybe. That can be at my house. But fun. Just the idea. I also just had this podcast is gonna take a little bit of a twist, but I just had an idea on how I would plan that house if I was the one Scoonge McDuckins? That might be it. I was saying that for this heist, getting this safe out of this house, how I would do it. I would be a neighbor building a house next door. This was the 50s, right? Get a crane. I'd be like, yeah, I need a crane to put my roof on. And I would just swing my crane around wider in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

And I'd drop like a wrecking ball or something. Oops. Yeah, oops.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Like it's gonna quiet.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

I would make sure they weren't home.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

And they've got insurance to fix the roof, right? Plus, I'm a mean criminal. Like I'm not thinking. Probably. Don't you think they had house insurance in the 50s? Oh, either. This is a little bit of like extrapolation of what's possible. But I would just swing my crane around, like it's boom, get a spot in, and then have a claw. Yep. You'd need someone to switch out the wrecking ball with the claw.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Okay, so some heavy equipment still needs.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Yes. And then I would just like it, like the game at the architect. Where you normally get a teddy bear. Yeah. If you're lucky. But then this I'd have a safe with two million dollars in it in the 50s dangling from my crane, and then I would just bring it over to my.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

This is why I'm not a criminal.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

You can dream.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

You can dream.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Also get like this was just on the spot. If I had more time, I could have like blueprints and some equipment specs. Yeah. And like I would have like a budget on like cost benefit analysis. Conservative range, low to high on the safe.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Like if there's real certain that there's money in there. That's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

If there's only 300 bucks in there and the cost of the you know buying a lot next door and fake building a house, getting a crane. Yeah. You gotta do cost benefit analysis.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

I don't think we're built for this. I don't think we're built for this. No, but the I just love that like this dude was basically hiding money from the government, but then was robbed. And um now a bunch of buildings here are named after his family.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Do you know what happened with the robbery? Like, who do you report that to if it's the govern the government's donate the position it's their money, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:03

No, I think he I don't know if he'd already served his time. That was like they were like two separate cases, right? Like, I don't think the government cared so much about that, but um this, you know, just the whole idea that he really had this like lack of trust in any sort of banking system. So he's hoarding the money, not reporting it, does his little stint for tax evasion. Then he himself is it gets robbed and now has to count on the government to come and help him find who stole his money. Um he had a big gambling challenge. He had some he had some vices, buddy had some vices. He was he was uh not the not the like cleanest, but at the same time, I feel like what a time to to be living that life.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

I wonder whether the house is still in the family.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

I don't know. Um, it's a really good question. They have developed like all around it, and um the his descendants are very philanthropic. Like that is that is what they do. They they do a lot of good in our community. Um, Redfield, like I said, is a big name. They've really supported our university here. Um, and so uh way to like way to take that legacy and and spin it. But it's for my whole life, we've driven by this house. It's not far from here. I've driven by this house, and I've always known it's the silver dollar house, and I just didn't even really know why.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

The silver dollar house. I might drive by it later.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

I should. It's the silver dollar house. It's it's a beautiful, it's a really unique structure. Um do you think there's still silver in the walls? I've got that. And then when I bought my house, I definitely was searching for things in the walls. I think that house set me up to think obviously, people build false walls and hide silver.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

All the time, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

And I did not find any. Um, I found bats.

unknown 20:59

Shoot.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

They cost me money.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

And so for our audience, this is not just a silly, ridiculous like episode.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

No, we want you to have takeaways. Do this better.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

And well, two things actually. One, we do love a juicy financial story. We love a murder mystery, we love a money mystery, we love unsolved crimes, we love the juicy fun. Like, guess what they tried to get away with and look how bad that weren't. Um, yeah, we have that kind of Scheudenfreud. Like, oh my gosh. Yeah. Uh little little like I'm interested. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Um I'm not gonna tell you that I watch snaps.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

So for our listeners, if there's more stories you want to share or you like this type of like information, yeah. We're just if you liked it, this is historical.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

If you didn't like it, just scam.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Yeah, scap. Like, we'll do more. I love financial crimes. And there's actually more of a through line here. We have been seeing, in all seriousness, a ton of scams.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

With AI, with bots, with agents, with technology, just the way it is.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

We've actually been contacted several times recently because we've had clients or friends of clients that have gone through something like that.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Yep. Potential scams, they've been the target of scams. Um, I don't know that we've been, I don't know that we're aware of anyone specifically that's been the target of like a home burglary, which is fortunate because I mean, that would be terrible. You don't want the like the privacy, the sanctity, the the safety of your house. That that to me is just like next level. But it's the same. If your bank account is hacked, if your identity, if your personal information online is taken, um, it's equally devastating. It's vulnerable.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

I feel like that we're definitely in this vulnerable vulnerable state. So, you know, I think this idea of hey, keeping keeping valuable assets on your own property isn't safe. But at the same time, all of our things on the internet, all of our things in the virtual banking sphere, feel uh at risk as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

So um it's really, really important to be very, very cautious. Yep. Um, to make sure you're um, you know, if you're doing any sort of digital banking, um, it's really important to remember certain things like if you keep a large Venmo balance. Venmo is not an FDIC insured bank. Um, there's a lot of these neo banks out there right now that are kind of intermediaries between banks. And there are we've seen some really, really, really big challenges with those. And so just being really hyper aware where you're banking, being extra secure, making sure that you're not keeping big balances on some of these um apps and sites.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Um banking, one little tip there's um a friend of my family's, they they were contacted seemingly by their bank to authorize a large wire. And with technology, it looked like the call was coming in from the bank. The bank's name was on there, their banker's name was on there. By all identification, it looked like the banker was calling. And this person answered the phone, and the it was a scammer, but the scammer said, I there's a lot of scams going on right now. Yes. I just want to verify some information with you. Is this correct? Is this correct? And the person said, Oh my, like, yeah, that's all correct. Oh, here's what, here's whatever number you need, and boom, that was it. And that was the scam, the money's gone. So another thing, well, something we do in that case is we'll call you. Meaning let us call you. We'll call the bank when we're ready on our time. Yeah. So it's so easy to switch a phone number, like an incoming call.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Anytime I'm do anytime I get a phone call to do something, I'm like, I'm gonna call you back. And I don't let them give me, I find the number or I have the I go to the code. Don't let them give you the number. I want to call the number. Yep. So um it's just really, you know, uh, if you're making purchases, you know, use your credit cards responsibly, but credit cards are are something to consider when you're especially when you're out and charging because if that data, if that gets stolen, that's much easier to handle than your than your bank. Yeah. Um your credit cards are going to protect you from those types of things where your bank, they'll close your card, but they may not be able to get your money back.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

So um there's that that's part of the reason the banks charge those types of fees, or the credit cards can charge those fees. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

So not to fearmonger, but just to encourage a little bit of heightened awareness and vigilance right now because it's it's on the rise.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

It is. We've seen quite a bit of it, and we thought, well, what a good tie-in to do our crimes. And don't keep a ton of silver in your home, please.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

No.

unknown 26:16

No.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

That's the lesson of today.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Please don't keep a ton of silver, or maybe keep an amount that someone can't carry out.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

How much is that? We've seen quite a bit. Three more than 300 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

So keep minimum 800 pounds of silver.

unknown 26:34

All right.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Follow us for more tips. Like and subscribe. More life guidance. More life guidance, really. Thank you guys for joining us. Uh, we obviously have fun talking about financial crimes and just would you call it tomfoolery? You are an antique. I am an antique. I'm an antique for knowing that word too. Just haven't heard it in a while. Thank you guys. Join us next time. Bye. Okay, that was today's episode of WTF. If you laughed, learned something, or felt a little left alone, make sure you hit follow and send this episode to a friend who might need it. Women don't gatekeep, especially not the good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

We'll be back next week with more real talk, more stories, and probably more over sharing.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

See you next time on WTF.