A Las Vegas man accused of stealing about $14 million in gold and silver from a relative’s home in Lincoln County, Wyoming, has pleaded no contest to one count of felony theft.
Michael Reps, 61, was originally accused of taking precious metals and around $200,000 in cash from a family member’s home in southwest Wyoming.
The relative said he’d been investing in precious metals for 56 years, and he stored the gold throughout his home and safes, says an evidentiary affidavit filed in the Lincoln County Court system last spring.
The remaining valuables from that home were moved to a safe location after Reps’ case was charged last year, Lincoln County Sheriff M. Shane Johnson told Cowboy State Daily at the time.
The plea agreement filed in Reps’ case says in exchange for his Monday no-contest plea on the felony theft charge, the case prosecutor, Lincoln County Chief Deputy Attorney Ember Oakley, will agree to drop the felony burglary charge against him.
Reps will pay restitution on what he still owes to his family member, between $1 million and $2 million, with the exact amount yet to be finalized.
Oakley has agreed to limit her sentencing argument to 4.5 years in prison at Reps’ July 14 sentencing hearing in Lincoln County District Court.
Through his attorney Ryan Semerad of Fuller & Semerad LLC, Reps can argue for any sentence he deems appropriate.
If Lincoln County District Court Judge Joseph Bluemel rejects Reps’ plea agreement, the man can withdraw his no-contest plea and negotiate a new agreement or go to trial.
Coins, Gold, Cash
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Detective Jody Gardner went to a home late in the morning May 15, in response to a report of a “substantial amount of precious metals” missing from it according to an affidavit filed alongside Reps’ criminal charges.
The homeowner, Reps’ family member, told Gardner he had between $14 million and $18 million in gold coins and at least one gold bar stolen from the home and was missing about $200,000 in cash, the affidavit says.
The man said he and his wife had been traveling out of state, but he was certain Reps stole the gold — and noted that Reps was convicted of a financial crime in New Zealand in 2020.
He told the investigator that while he was traveling for the winter, an anonymous caller asked an adult protection services agency to investigate his competency.
The family member suspected this was Reps lashing out over a dispute about his will.
“I noted no indication that (the family member) had a diminished capacity during the hours I have spent with him during the course of my investigation,” wrote Gardner.
The Porsche Title
The family member also reported several car titles missing from his bedroom safe, including a Porsche title registered in Montana and an Airstream trailer registered in Arizona, but “he could not recall the other titles that were missing,” Gardner wrote.
He told Gardner all the safes in the house were locked, but there were bags of gold and silver stored elsewhere in his home.
Someone may have used a key to get in, he said in response to the detective asking about signs of forced entry.
He had kept handwritten, detailed instructions for his wife on how to access the precious metals and cash stored in their home, the document says.
Gardner took that document into his evidence cache.
Into The Basement
The man also took Gardner down to the “spacious and unfinished” basement of the home, where a significant amount of food storage sat among the organized and uncluttered space, Gardner observed.
Another safe sat empty. The family member said it had contained several hundred ounces of gold and 200 ounces of Canadian silver coins — all gone, the affidavit says.
The man said there had been 700 ounces of gold coins stored in four canvas bags inside it, the affidavit relates.
Stock certificates also were allegedly missing from the man’s bedroom, adds the document.
In total, he estimated 5,859 ounces of gold had been stolen from his home. The affidavit says he also reported three handguns missing: a Beretta Tomcat .32 ACP pistol, a North American Arms Mini-Master .22 LR and a North American Arms .380 semiautomatic pistol.
No Idea What Car That Was
Gardner met with a couple that cares for the family member’s home while he and his wife are gone.
The couple said a vehicle sat in the driveway for a couple days in the autumn of 2023, and the visitor kept the porch light on for at least one night. But the couple could not give Gardner a description of the vehicle “whatsoever,” says the document.
A Homeland Security Investigations agent reported Reps had arrived in the United States from New Zealand on Sept. 14, and remained in the country until May 2. Reps arrived back in the U.S. again two weeks later, the affidavit says.
Gardner touched base with an investigator at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and obtained photos of Reps’ Las Vegas home and two vehicles.
“It appears that the burglary was targeted and very specific,” wrote Gardner.
The person appeared to know where to find the treasure, and the theft of the vehicle titles made the act look “personal,” he added.
Other than the guns, gold and money reportedly taken, nothing else was disturbed.
Tried To Pay In Gold
Reps bought his home in Las Vegas on Dec. 12, for $380,000, the affidavit says.
It also says the person who sold it to him has an “extensive criminal history” including grand theft and theft of rare coins and fencing stolen property.
This seller later told Gardner that Reps tried to buy the home with gold, but that he wanted cash.
Gardner reportedly received cellphone data for Reps' phone June 1.
Reps’ phone had not been used to make or receive any phone calls or texts between Oct. 25, 2023, and May 10, 2024, in Lincoln County, which was the rough window of the alleged burglary.
Gardner clarified: “This just means the device was not used, not that it was not present.”
The investigator also noticed 136 alleged calls between Reps' phone and a phone number associated with a Fresno, California, gold broker.
The gold broker reportedly confirmed for Gardner that he’d been buying gold from Reps, and he handed over receipts for the exchanges, plus text message exchanges between the two from this past winter and spring.
Out of concern that Gardner was investigating him, the home seller contacted Gardner, the document says.
But as the conversation developed, the home seller described going to a gold broker in Las Vegas to test the quality of Reps’ gold. Reps had reportedly told the home seller that he got the gold by selling cryptocurrency.
Gardner obtained receipts from the coin gallery and learned that both the home seller and Reps had exchanged gold for money there, the affidavit says.
The document lists exchanges totaling $3,193,105, with two of those receipts (comprising $666,516) in the home seller’s name, and the rest in Reps’ name. These exchanges involved gold Eagles, gold Buffalos, American gold, platinum Eagles, gold sovereigns and Swiss French francs, says the document.
The affidavit says the gold buyer showed Gardner text message exchanges, including attachments depicting wire transfers from his bank account to Reps’ on multiple occasions.
We’re Going To Vegas
Gardner and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Roy Warren travelled to Las Vegas together June 6, 2024, talked with the city’s detectives and obtained a search warrant for Reps' address.
With the help of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s SWAT team, the pair executed the search warrant the next day, the document says.
They found a black duffel bag containing several hundred ounces of silver coins, allegedly.
The next day they learned Reps had entered Nevada and was on his way to Las Vegas. Las Vegas police set up surveillance around Reps’ home, while the two Wyoming agents traveled to another address with which Reps was reportedly associated.
They searched that address as well with a search warrant, says the affidavit.
Meanwhile, the local authorities arrested Reps.
The Interview
The affidavit relates that Reps said he took the money not out of greed, but to protect his family.
It says Reps admitted to going to Lincoln County on about Nov. 22, 2023, and taking about $12 million worth of gold and silver.
He said he didn’t take any guns.
If he inadvertently took vehicle titles or stocks, he’d return them, the affidavit relates.
As for the money he sold to the coin gallery, the amount he received in return was “less than his projected inheritance,” Reps reportedly said.
Eventually, Reps admitted the remaining treasure was in a commercial vault in a Las Vegas facility, the affidavit says.
Detectives received a search warrant for the vault and found about 380 pounds of gold and 333 pounds of silver — more than $14 million in value, the affidavit says.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
