This story makes me shudder.
(from
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/200...siness.html)Coin dealer quits business after attack
Posted by Terry Judd February 06, 2008 16:29PM
Robert Palmatter's passion for coin collecting first began in grade school when he gathered and cataloged coins as a hobby.
It reignited with a new intensity in 1987 when he went along with his nephew to a coin store to advise the boy; and the next thing he knew, he was coin collecting and soon was a coin dealer.
"I call it the collector gene; you're either born with it or not," he said. "There is no explaining it."
That all changed Jan. 26.
That was night Palmatter was attacked by at least two robbers who had targeted him and his coin collection as he returned to his home in an exclusive neighborhood in Spring Lake Township.
Palmatter was doused with pepper spray, bound, kicked in the head and forced to give combinations to two safes. His wife, Lena, fortunately was not spotted by the assailants as she remained in a car parked in their garage and eventually was able to flee the scene to call for help.
One of the alleged assailants, Jeremy Lee Wilkinson, 29, of Lafayette, Ind., was captured after running through snow-covered woods and hiding out barefoot on Lake Michigan ice for four hours, nearly at the cost of his toes.
He was arraigned last week for armed robbery, first-degree home invasion, unlawful imprisonment, resisting, obstructing and running away from a police officer and possessing a firearm during a felony. Bond was set at $1 million.
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Department is looking for at least one other suspect who fled from Palmatter's home. An escape vehicle with an Indiana license plate was found in Ferrysburg three days later.
No more arrests have been made.
Based upon evidence collected to date, sheriff's officials believe the assailants specifically targeted Palmatter, a nationally known registered coin expert, and knew he had a coin collection.
The violent experience almost two weeks ago has been emotionally devastating for Palmatter and his wife, Lena, who feared for their lives and had the sanctity of their home violated.
Palmatter suffered a minor concussion, temporary double-vision and had several teeth chipped from being kicked in the head. He has difficulty talking about the night of his attack, particularly the moments when he did not know whether his wife was safe.
The robbery also focused unwanted public attention on the Palmatters, who for years had tried to be "discreet" about the coin collections business out of fear they could be robbed.
"We worked very hard at being nondescript by the very nature of the business," he said. "That has changed now."
Even though collecting is his passion, Palmatter said he is getting out of the coin-collecting hobby and business. Since the robbery, Palmatter has removed his entire coin collection and both safes from his home and is in the process of selling off the entire inventory.
Palmatter also is disbanding and liquidating his coin dealer business. In addition, a state-of-the-art security system has been installed in his home.
"I can't stress enough that all of the inventory has been removed from the house. There is nothing there," he said. "I'm going forward and liquidating all of the coins and I will not be purchasing new coins."
Palmatter said he had no choice after what happened on Jan. 26. It was around 5:30 p.m. when he and his wife drove into their garage and sat briefly in their car while saying a prayer of thanks for their safe return from a buying trip.
Palmatter said he opened the back door of the house while his wife was preparing to exit the car. He walked into the home and was confronted by a man exiting a bathroom who immediately sprayed pepper spray into his face.
The attack came so quickly, Palmatter did not get a good look at his assailant. He was dragged back into the garage, ordered onto the floor and had his hands bound behind his back with electrical tie wrap. His wife, seeing her husband in trouble, remained hidden in the car.
"I was asked who I was, then was pulled into the area where the safes were," he said.
Once near the safes, Palmatter's feet were bound and he was ordered to give the attacker the combinations to the two safes. After struggling with the combinations for several minutes, the intruder was able to open one safe but found only business papers. The assailant then radioed "for back-up," Palmatter said.
Although he remained blinded by the pepper spray, Palmatter believes another intruder entered the room and they unsuccessfully tried to open the second safe. They then freed Palmatter's hands so he could demonstrate the combination sequence even though he could not see.
Once the safe was opened, Palmatter was bound again and shoved to the side. He lay still and soon the house was quiet. Believing the house was empty, Palmatter managed to wiggle out of the bindings and get to a telephone to call for help.
But when he picked up the receiver, the phone was dead. As he went back to the area of the safes, he was discovered by the robbers and rebound with tie wraps.
When they saw the telephone receiver off the hook, they kicked Palmatter in the head as punishment and sprayed him again. Palmatter said he waited on the floor a longer time and eventually freed his hands and feet.
He then blindly proceeded to the garage in an effort to get to a neighbor's house. But when he got into the garage and squinted one eye open, his heart sank -- the car his wife was last seen in was gone.
Palmatter said he feared his wife had been kidnapped and he frantically exited the garage and started running down his driveway. He then heard someone yell, "Get down."
"I stopped and got down and said, 'Who are you?' because I did not know if it was the burglars or police," he said.
Palmatter said he was then was told to get up and walk down to the end of the driveway with his hands in the air. He did not know it was the police until he was handcuffed and told to run away from the home with an officer.
"I kept asking them where my wife was, but got no answer. But when we got to the (police) car, I heard her voice. I heard her voice and knew she was OK," he said, choking up. "She was OK!"
Palmatter praised the response by area law enforcement officers and the work done to date by the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department.
In the meantime, he and his wife are trying to get their lives together but acknowledges they have not spent a night in the home since the robbery because of damage done to the house and to their sense of security.
"If you were to see our home, you would understand why we have not wanted to return," he said.
Posted 02/08/2008 10:52 am
