Prolific burglar's haul up for auction at Gurnee coin shop
A Lake County coin shop and a prolific burglar will be linked a little while longer.
Michael Paulson, 58, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for two early 2013 burglaries at Harbor Coin Co. in Gurnee.
Authorities say the former Lake Villa resident broke into the business seeking collectible coins to build a nest egg for his wife just before he reported to serve a four-year prison sentence for attempted burglary in an unrelated case.
Nearly four years later, Paulson's shadow continues to hover over Harbor Coin, because the business is auctioning rare coins and other items he stole elsewhere that went unclaimed by his victims. Among the items on a silent-auction board is a cell key that police found Paulson's house — a souvenir he is alleged to have swiped when departing an Illinois prison.
“I feel like we've come full circle with Michael Paulson,” said Sheila Timmons, whose family owns Harbor Coin. “Michael Paulson and what he did to our business and our family kept us on edge for months.”
Gurnee police will receive the proceeds — as much as $115,000 after expenses — from the auction and another expected for unclaimed jewelry. Police officers will be at Harbor Coin to monitor the auction's final day March 18 because of an expected onrush of last-minute bidders.
Authorities said Paulson scored collectible coins and jewelry worth up to $300,000 while stealing from businesses and houses in northern Illinois for about seven months in 2012 and early 2013.
Gurnee police found the haul in Paulson's Lake Villa house while solving the Harbor Coin burglaries in October 2013, but they were unable to return everything to the rightful owners. They received state authorization last fall to hold the special silent auction of any seized property they were unable to return to victims.
Of the roughly 500 lots of unclaimed items, Harbor Coin's Andrew Timmons said, a highlight is a 1794 Bust Dollar. He expects the rare coin's final price to be well beyond the $500 starting bid.
An American Indian cent from 1877, a 1916 D-series mercury dime and a 1909 Lincoln penny with an engraver's initials on it are other rare coins that should draw keen interest, he said.
Timmons believes Paulson just grabbed what he could during the burglaries.
“It's a sense of relief that he was caught and he is behind bars, and that we can auction some of the items that he has stolen from various places,” he said. “And we just feel like it's going to be a good thing for the Gurnee Police Department.”
Investigators sought search warrants for Paulson's house after they acted on a tip and listened to several hundred minutes of recordings between him and his wife, Martha, on a prison telephone. What they heard included Paulson chatting about gold and silver prices and knowing when to liquidate the stolen goods, police said.
Gurnee police said they found firearms and collectible coins stolen in November 2012 from Antique Coffee in Elk Grove Village. Also found were coins and jewelry taken from the Collector's Gallery in Tinley Park in August 2012, in addition to what was stolen from Harbor Coin.
But many collectible coins and jewelry pieces could not be tied to a specific owner, despite investigators' best efforts over roughly three years.
Paulson's longtime burglary prowess and previous convictions are known to many in law enforcement circles, Gurnee police said. He received the 20-year prison term in October 2015 after entering a plea deal in Lake County court for the two burglaries at Harbor Coin.
Records show Martha Paulson, 58, pleaded guilty to a theft charge and received 24 months of probation in November 2014.