Toledo Tales

(Toledo, OH) A Toledo Tales investigation has revealed that Tom and Bernadette Noe - the foci of state investigations in the Coingate saga - made numerous personal expenditures on the days that checks were cashed by Tom's Vintage Coins business.

Among the thousands of financial documents: a Kroger receipt in the amount of $32.47 dated July 20, 2002, the day a $5,400 check was cashed by Vintage Coins and Cards.

Ohio state auditor Jim Petro confirmed the findings of Toledo Tales.

“We think that as we go through more and more of the transaction records, March 31, 1998, until May 24, 2005 I think we’re going to find more instances where assets could have been converted or abused in one way or another,” Mr. Petro said to a Toledo Blade reporter. "You will even see Bernadette using money - real cash - to buy things like milk and feminine hygiene products."

Left: Re-enactment of Bernadette Noe using money to make purchases

Among other finds - a gasoline receipt that Tom Noe used to fill up his car in the amount of $20.57 on January 26, 2004, the same day that Vintage Coins and Cards deposited a check in the amount of $500.00.

Petro told Toledo Tales that he was "aghast" that Noe would pay cash for gasoline.

"That's so...so...old-fashioned," he said. "What more damning proof do you need that there was wrong-doing? Who else besides an old-fashioned gangster would pay cash for anything these days?"

Left: Noe gas receipt, in which he paid cash

Mr. Petro said Noe’s businesses operated in the manner of a “Ponzi” scheme, telling a Toledo Blade reporter that Noe received “investment dollars and you pay the investment dollars out as supposed earnings, when in fact to get that money you bring in more investment dollars.”

“You know, named after that famous scam artist, a guy named Ponzi,” he told the Blade. “Yes, I think it’s a Ponzi scheme.”

Petro said that a state audit revealed that Noe actually walked around with cash quite frequently.

"Noe told associates that he often carried as much as $200 on his person," he said, momentarily glancing into his own wallet. "This bastard is going down!"