COIN DEALER TEDDY KEITH THRUSH

It often happens that I come across a story idea while looking for something else. This week I came across coin dealer Teddy K. Thrush. I thought his story had enough unusual elements to be interesting.

Thrush was born in Oklahoma on July 16, 1944, the son of "Teddy" Otho Lamore Thrush (1911- 1964) and Maudie Valeria Voyles Thrush (1910-1997). His father was a farmer and partner in Harris and Thrush Manufacturing Company.

In 1962, Teddy and his cousin, W. H. Voyles (1931-1988), set up the Big 12 Trailer Co. to manufacture cotton trailers. He was getting advice and probably financial support from his father.

Teddy was also a coin dealer by 1963. In the October 1963 issue of The Numismatist, he was listed as a new junior member, J50439. He was not mentioned in The Numismatist again. He also joined the Texas Numismatic Association.

Early in 1964, before he turned twenty, he opened Thrush Coin Exchange in Lubbock, Texas. It featured "one of the largest stocks of rare coins in the southwest," a large bid board and teletype. The timing suggests he was out of high school and not attending college. How did he acquire the large inventory? Family money may have provided the assets, but who provided the coins?

He was married to Sharon on March 19, 1969. They were divorced on September 29, 1971.

Thrush was arrested as a suspect in the December 13, 1971, robbery of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Norris of McAllen, Texas. An estimated $15,000 in cash and coins were taken. Also named as an accomplice was Thomas Haas, suspected in a series of burglaries.

Texas Ranger Jack Dean was credited for the investigation and apprehension of Thrush as he crossed the border returning to El Paso from Juarez, Mexico. Dean was presented with the "Golden Bullet Award" from the Texas Numismatic Association. He also received a $500 award from the Rare Coin Theft Fund of the American Numismatic Association.

In 1973, Thrush was operating an escort service called All American Girl. An employee testified that girls had contracts forbidding sexual relations with clients. This illustrated the high moral standards maintained by Thrush. His girls were paid $50 for a night or $500 for a weekend.

The story line now shifts to Jack Boozer, manager of the Douglas Weaver Rare Coins Shop in Waco, Texas. It was around closing time on March 8, 1972, when two well-dressed armed men entered the store to rob the place. Among the items taken were a $4 gold Stella and a gold bar worth $10,000. Estimated loss was $140,000.

The March 8, 1972, issue of Coin World included a full-page ad for the Douglas Weaver Rare Coins Shop. It listed hundreds of rare coins with their prices. The robbers were looking for specific coins and may have used the ad as a shopping list. Authorities speculated that the robbery was the largest in Waco history.

Shortly after the robbers arrived, Boozer's wife Rita and three young children entered the store. They were taken to a back room, bound with tape and locked in a bathroom.

The robbers loaded six briefcases with rare coins and carried them out to the wife's car, a 1971 Dodge Charger. Boozer was forced to drive to a remote location where he was locked in the trunk. It took him five hours to break open the trunk with a tire tool. He got a ride to a nearby Owens-Illinois glass factory and called police.

By that time, Boozer's son, Brad (age 3) had freed himself and untied his sister, Amanda (age 5). Brad found scissors in a back storeroom and cut his mother free. Rita waited a while before breaking the bathroom door and calling police. When they arrived, they had to break a window to get in as the robbers had locked the door and taken the key.

Thomas Edgar Haas (1941-2011) admitted that he and his brother had robbed the store. He was an ex-convict with a long criminal record. He claimed Teddy Thrush had planned the robbery and promised to split the proceeds three ways. Thrush knew Douglas Weaver through previous business as coin dealers. Thrush drove the two robbers to Waco and provided a typed list of the most valuable coins. Haas delivered the coins to Thrush in Irving, Texas, the night of the robbery.

Thrush claimed he sold the coins to "a man in California" who was not identified. The prosecution believed the coins were sold to Bob Messner who relocated to Mexico City. Haas thought he had been double-crossed when Thrush paid each brother only $3000. He cooperated with the police in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Thrush was arrested and brought to trial. He testified that he was forced to plan the robbery by Haas who otherwise threatened to kill Thrush and his mother.

During the trial, prosecutors played tape recordings of conversations between Haas and Thrush made without Thrush's knowledge. In one conversation, Thrush told Haas that the loot had only realized about $10,000. If Thrush sold $140,000 in gold coins for $10,000, his competency as a coin dealer might be questioned. Another tape mentioned a previous robbery in Lubbock that yielded very little of value.

After a ninety-minute deliberation, the jury of eleven women and one man found Thrush guilty. The jury recommended a sentence of twenty years in prison. Recent reports have Thrush living in Tucson, Arizona.

In 1982, Jack Boozer and Douglas Weaver (1926-2012) joined to create Boozer-Weaver Jewelers in Valley Mills with twenty-five employees by 1992. Recent reports have Jack Boozer living in Waco, Texas.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web