PORTLAND, Ore. — A man busted for stealing millions of coins from coin-cashing machines in Oregon, Washington and several other states was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Richard Pena of Las Vegas will also have to pay $582,000 in restitution.
Federal prosecutors said Pena stole hundreds of thousand of dollars in change by posing as a repair man for a coin-cashing company.
Starting in January 2021, Pena went into stores pretending to service coin-counting machines. Instead, prosecutors allege he broke into the machines and walked out with the coin vaults. Investigators figure Pena pulled off dozens of coin heists at stores between his home in Las Vegas, Nevada and Portland, Oregon.
It wasn't pocket change.
On December 21, 2021, federal prosecutors said Pena stole roughly $10,000 from a store in Hillsboro, then stole nearly $7,000 from another store in Hillsboro. Within the next hour, he ripped off nearly $3,000 from a location in Beaverton, then 30 minutes later he took another $3,000 from a different store in Beaverton.
His sophisticated theft scheme came to an end on December 22, 2021 when an grocery store worker in Vancouver watched Pena ripping off coins and called police.
After his arrest, sheriff's deputies in Clark County searched Pena’s rented van, U-Haul truck and hotel room. They found laundry baskets filled with 1.5 million stolen coins totaling more than $133,000.
In total, federal prosecutors said Pena cost the unnamed coin-cashing company more than $715,000 in losses and damage to its machines.
In March, Pena pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport stolen property. He was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Portland.
