Men Who Claimed to Find Treasure Arrested
April 29, 2005

LAWRENCE, Mass. - Two men who made national headlines by claiming they found a buried treasure in the back yard of a home were charged Friday with stealing the collection of old currency from a house where they were working. Barry Billcliff, 27, of Manchester, N.H., and Timothy Crebase, 22, of Methuen, Mass., were charged with receiving stolen property, conspiracy and accessory after the fact, Methuen Police Lt. Kevin Martin said. The men were to be arraigned Friday.

Crebase told investigators the men found the money in the gutter of a barn they were hired to repair, according to the Eagle-Tribune newspaper of Lawrence. The men had made several appearances on national television this week, and police noticed details of the story changed with each appearance.

Police Chief Joseph E. Solomon told ABC's "Good Morning America" that authorities might never have suspected anything had the men not sought publicity. "Had they just put the money away or, you know, gone somewhere outside of the area and sold a little money at a time, I don't think anybody would have known or suspected anything," Solomon said. "Sometimes wanting to be famous is really the downfall of people."

The arrest interrupted the men's planned appearance Thursday night on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" because they were being booked by police around the time the show was airing. They were to have been interviewed from the yard where they claimed to have found the money while digging. The men said they found 1,800 bank notes and bills dating between 1899 and 1928 while digging in the yard of the house Crebase rents.

The materials had a face value of about $7,000. Domenic Mangano, owner of the Village Coin Shop in Plaistow, N.H., examined the find and said the currency was authentic. He gave varying estimates of its worth, ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.

The men's stories, though, attracted suspicion because of discrepancies. The depth of the buried crate, for example, ranged from 9 inches to 2 feet. The men also gave conflicting reasons for digging in Crebase's yard. They told one reporter they were preparing to plant a tree. In other reports, they said they were trying to remove a small tree or dig up the roots of a shrub that was damaging the home's foundation.

Billcliff insisted the discrepancies in the story of how the money happened found could be explained. "It's like watching a car accident," he told the newspaper. "Sometimes someone will say something and someone else will say something slightly different, but mostly it's the same."

Christine Tetlow of Manchester, N.H., who identified herself as a longtime friend of Billcliff, defended him and said the pair did not steal the money. "If you need money, he'll be the first person to step up and give it to you and never ask to get it back," she said.