$400,000 in stolen coins unearthed

[Guest Dwight C]

Nearly $400,000 in stolen coins unearthed

Okaloosa County Sheriff's Investigators say they unearthed nearly $400,000 in stolen silver coins.

They say the coins were stolen from a safe at a Crestview home, but nearly all of the money was recovered.

Deputies arrested Stephen Aaron Barnes of Destin. He's charged with grand theft over $100,000.

Investigators say the money was to be part of Barnes' mother's divorce settlement, but when the victim tried to get the money on August 30th, he was unable to get into the safe. They safe when a locksmith opened the safe, the coins were missing, as well as a rifle.

He told investigators he had last seen the items in November 2017. He also said his estranged wife was to receive the coins, or be given a check for what they were worth. His wife said she did not know what happened to the money.

Barnes was developed as a suspect and later confessed to taking the coins, saying he was mad at the victim for all the suffering he had caused his mother during the couple's divorce proceedings. He said he buried the coins in three places on the property.