Local coin shop owner awarded

Whoever coined the phrase take a penny leave a penny, doesn’t know Bob Bruce.  Owner of two of the biggest coin shops in the Gulf Coast area, this coin collector and previous law enforcement office knows how to catch thieves red handed. 

               Bruce was recently awarded the Sol Kaplan Award from the Professional Numismatists Guild for recovering more than $100,000 worth of valued coins.  This led to a further investigation, which helped recover over $2 million worth of coins. 

               Bruce said the coin thief was in a ring with a group that had helped steal over $2 million worth of coins out of a dentist’s safe in Ohio. 

               Unfortunately, the thieves didn’t have enough brains to crack the safe code, so they did the next best thing—they pulled the safe through the wall.

               “They hooked the safe up to a trailer and pulled it out of the house.  It did a lot of damage to their house,” said Bruce.

               The coins were distributed to different people around the U.S., and attempts to sell the stolen merchandise were ceased because of Bruce’s phone call to the FBI.

               Employee Dennis Sullivan was the first to come in contact with the thief, who attempted to sell him the coins. 

               “The guy came in and tried to sell these expensive coins, and he didn’t know how to handle them. That’s when we knew they were stolen,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan was able to get photocopies of the cased coins, and traced the serial numbers back to the group of coins that had been stolen from Ohio.       

               Bruce later got in contact with the crook, who happened to be a county worker.

               “I had phone conversations with the guy numerous times.  He kept wanting me to meet him out of the store,” said Bruce. 

               According to Bruce, when a seller wants to meet outside of the store, it is usually a clear indication that the items are stolen. 

               “I could have bought the coins for 20 grand and walked away, but I didn’t.  I was just trying to do the right thing,” said the store owner.

               Bruce did his first good deed by trying to get in contact with law enforcement.  When the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office refused to help, he went to the FBI. 

               Once a meeting was set up to sell the coins, FBI agents hid in the back room of his Pensacola store.  “I had FBI agents in the back with machine guns,” said Bruce. 

Despite having suspicion that the man was armed, Bruce kept his cool.   

               “I wasn’t scared,” admits Bruce, “I used to be a cop, and you learn not to be scared in those situations.”

               Bruce and the FBI agents weren’t fully aware that the thief had a gun in his left pocket, but they were prepared for the worst considering the man’s rap sheet.

               “They had been looking for this guy for a year,” said Bruce, “He had walked up behind some guy and shot him in the head.”

               Bruce had no problem dealing with the thief, and was the first to jump at the man when he reached for his gun. 

               “When they (thieves) come for us, they come to kill you, and that’s the problem,” said Bruce.

               After an all-out brawl, which was later posted on youtube.com, all of the people involved in taking down the armed man walked away with some kind of injury. 

               “One of the men got a broken wrist, and I kicked someone in the head with the back of my foot,” said Bruce.

               Months after the brawl took place, the Professional Numismatists Guild contacted Bruce and asked him to become a member of their organization.

               “You have to be a member of this organization to receive the award, but when they found out what I did, I got a call asking me to be a part of their organization,” said Bruce.

               Soon thereafter, Bruce kept getting calls from the PNG asking him to fly out to Los Angeles, but they wouldn’t tell him why.

               “They do it all by secret ballot,” said Bruce, “They tried to get me to go out to L.A. for two months, and didn’t tell me why.” 

               Later, the director of the organization accepted the award on his behalf.  “He supposedly said some nice things about me,” said Bruce. 

After filling the huge hole in his wall, the dentist, according to Bruce never called or wrote to thank the storeowner for recovering his valuables.  

               “He put out a $50,000 reward on his coins, and I didn’t claim it,” said Bruce.

               The coin shop owner has stopped more than just one thief in the past.  To this day, Bruce has helped put three to justice, two of which are currently behind bars.  The award he received just topped off the icing on the cake.

               “That’s their Oscar,” said Bruce.