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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Former North Idaho coin dealer ordered to pay bilked customers more than $500K

A North Idaho coin dealer who was accused of taking money from customers, but never making good on his promise to deliver gold and silver coins in return has been ordered to pay 10 customers more than $578,000, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced today. A court ruled that Kevin E. Mitchell, former owner and operator of CoiNuts Inc. in Coeur d’Alene, personally violated state consumer protection laws, and permanently barred him from owning or operating a coin business in Idaho. This order comes on top of a $742,826 default judgment against CoiNuts in that the court issued in September of 2013.

“This case represents an increasing problem in Idaho,” Wasden said in a statement. “Business owners accept consumers’ payments, but fail to deliver their purchases, then shut down operations and ignore refund requests.” Mitchell’s violations occurred between 2008 and 2012. In March, he was sentenced to six months in jail for theft; S-R reporter Scott Maben has a full report here.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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