Dennis Miller had been collecting gold and silver coins since 1950, but this summer he began selling some to help finance a move to a retirement home.

Then Miller and his wife, Bette, returned home two months ago to find their basement ransacked and the coins missing. Although property crimes aren’t routinely investigated – and only a small percentage are ever solved – the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office located the suspected thief.

But so far, only three or four of the rare coins have been recovered. In this case, the Sheriff’s Office arrested Gary D. McCabe, 45, a prolific burglar who has three cases pending and property crime convictions that date back to 1976, when he was 12.

"This is downright personal,” said Miller, a 67-year-old retired highway engineer. “I was 7 years old when I started this collection.”

Read the rest of Tom Clouse's story here.

Past coverage:

March 27, 2009: Arrests may crack burglaries.

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