| NEWS | Coin-Op The curious case of the vanishing rare coins. BY ELIAS WEISS tapped a famous local bigwig. Gerald “Jerry” Krigman filed a civil law- A suit in Maricopa County Superior Court in April 2021 alleging theft and fraud against his former worker and friend, 77-year-old Albert “Tony” Woodrel and his wife. Their lawyers have denied any liability in the case and refute every allegation. Krigman suspected Woodrel was stealing from him for years, according to interviews and the civil complaint in court. He hired Fountain Hills private investigator Kelly Goar to find out what hap- pened. She set up a secret video camera that recorded footage of Woodrel taking money from Krigman’s bedroom. “Based on information rare coins dealer in Fountain Hills has filed a $1 million lawsuit against an old friend, alleging theft in a case that unexpectedly owned an investment business and a few contracting ventures, all in Fountain Hills. Nazarchuk worked for her husband un- til Krigman offered her a new opportunity. She managed Krigman’s online busi- ness, the eBay website he used to sell rare coins from his expansive collection. She was even named in Krigman’s will, court records stated. But this friendship soured. By November 2019, things were unrav- eling. The revenue from Krigman’s eBay business was barely a third of what it had been year after year. And by 2020, their friendship had col- lapsed. “I trusted them,” Krigman said in an inter- view. Krigman kept as much Gerald “Jerry” Krigman. Kelly Goar obtained through the course of his investigation, [Krigman] be- lieves that [Woodrel and his wife] have sto- len from him at least $300,000 in cash and rare coins,” the complaint alleged. Woodrel was arrested last year in the front yard of Krigman’s Fountain Hills home, but he never faced charges. Krigman is seeking more than $1 million in punitive damages on top of $300,000 he claims was stolen over time, plus $25,000 in legal fees. The complaint names Woodrel and his wife, Chris Nazarchuk, 68, as defendants in the suit. Friends Before Foes Years ago, Krigman packed up his cache of rare coins and migrated southwest from Massachusetts. He settled in a quiet, up- scale neighborhood in Fountain Hills. An eccentric and charismatic business- man, it didn’t take long for the 84-year-old coin dealer to make friends with Woodrel and Nazarchuk, fellow Fountain Hills resi- dents with a taste for collectible coins. Krigman enjoyed 12 years of harmoni- ous friendship with the couple from Michigan. But then, according to the lawsuit, both coins and cash began to disappear from Krigman’s home on a street called Crested Crown. Woodrel spent his career as an entre- 14 preneur. He’s a licensed firearms dealer, state and federal records show. He also as $50,000 in cash in his home at all times, he and court documents claim. It’s a cash-only business, and he acquired new coins to sell on a weekly basis. In 2019, Krigman had $50,000 in his bedroom when he left the house and $20,000 was missing when he returned, according to interviews and court records. His lawsuit alleges that the only people who had access to the home at the time were Krigman’s live-in girlfriend and his employees. But Woodrel described his former friend as careless in court documents. “Krigman would regularly misplace or lose coins,” Woodrel’s attorneys said in one court filing. “These coins were out in the open and usually strewn about in various rooms.” Caught on Camera In March 2020, Goar and Krigman watched security video footage of a husky white-haired man removing money from the bedside drawer inside the master bedroom of Krigman’s Fountain Hills home. That man was Woodrel, whose cowboy boots clicked distinctly as he walked along the concrete garage floor, video shared with Phoenix New Times shows. Woodrel wore a sport coat and tie as he walked through the home during his visit. Then the video shows him rifling through a nightstand, twice removing cash from the bedroom, and collecting coins from the ga- rage. Krigman had trusted Woodrel so much he gave him the garage door code to his home. A wad of $100 bills totaling $1,000 was missing from Krigman’s bedroom >> p 17 JAN 20TH– JAN 26TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
