Soldiers Recover Millions in Soggy Cash
Pentagram, DC (United States):
Soldiers of the Nebraska National Guard helped the U.S. Treasury Department rescue an estimated $50 to $100 million earlier this month from a flooded vault in New Orleans.
The soggy, stinking cash and coins were removed from a flooded Loomis, Fargo & Co. building in New Orleans by members of the National Guard Counter Drug Task Force who dubbed the mission "Ocean's 13," as a sequel to the recent heist movie.
The mission was top secret, said Spc. Tyler Miles, a member of the 134th Infantry Detachment (Long Range Surveillance) who participated.
Few of the Guardsmen knew what they were being tasked to do until they were briefed just moments before departing, according to Miles and fellow Nebraska Soldier Sgt. Jonathan Panipinto. Their cell phones were confiscated before the briefing to ensure that what they were about to be told would be kept within their confines until after the mission had been carried out.
Panpinto said the Soldiers had some indications that something strange was up, though.
"People approached us and started asking questions about our (light armored vehicles.) Things like, 'How much weight can these things carry?' 'Where is the balance point?' things like that," said Panipinto. "They didn't identify themselves and we couldn't get any straight answers. They just kept asking weird questions and taking measurements."
"They just acted really strange," he added.
The reason for the secrecy was simple. When New Orleans was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, caught up in the fetid waters was the storage building for Loomis, Fargo and Co., a cash-handling company that handles armored car services. Bags upon bags of cash and coins had been left behind and needed to be recovered before other elements discovered their location.
According to Lt. Col. Tom Brewer, commander of the multi-state Task Force LAV, the group was approached by U.S. Treasury officials to help secure a perimeter around the building and assist in hauling the cash away. Because of the nature of the mission, secrecy was paramount.
The facility, said Miles, was a non-descript brick building located slightly off of the interstate, surrounded by strands of rusting barbed wire, a few cameras and an inoperable electric gate.
"It was a building you'd never suspect," said Panipinto. "It just looked like a truck depot."
Although the water had receded significantly, the facility was still surrounded by the neck-deep toxic porridge of chemicals, oil, gasoline, sewage and other unknown elements. After arriving on scene, one team of Soldiers jumped into the water and broke open the gates and broke open the doors. A second group then hitched their LAVs to several surrounding armored cars and pulled them out of the way so that another LAV could back into the doorway.
Miles, who entered the building to assist with the movement, said the images he saw were simply amazing. "Papers were everywhere...receipt-like papers, all soaked," said Miles. "It had a very distinct smell, like absolutely soft money. You know...money and paper."
About four inches of foul-smelling black water still cover the floor, Miles said. Additional black water dripped from the ceilings and ran down the walls.
Brewer described the scene to an Omaha World-Herald reporter as looking like "King Solomon's mine - bags of (coins), money stacked everywhere."
Sept 30, 2005
Capt. Kevin Hynes, Army News Service (Hynes serves with the Nebraska National Guard).
Pentagram, DC (United States):Soldiers of the Nebraska National Guard helped the U.S. Treasury Department rescue an estimated $50 to $100 million earlier this month from a flooded vault in New Orleans.
The soggy, stinking cash and coins were removed from a flooded Loomis, Fargo & Co. building in New Orleans by members of the National Guard Counter Drug Task Force who dubbed the mission "Ocean's 13," as a sequel to the recent heist movie.
The mission was top secret, said Spc. Tyler Miles, a member of the 134th Infantry Detachment (Long Range Surveillance) who participated.
Few of the Guardsmen knew what they were being tasked to do until they were briefed just moments before departing, according to Miles and fellow Nebraska Soldier Sgt. Jonathan Panipinto. Their cell phones were confiscated before the briefing to ensure that what they were about to be told would be kept within their confines until after the mission had been carried out.
Panpinto said the Soldiers had some indications that something strange was up, though.
"People approached us and started asking questions about our (light armored vehicles.) Things like, 'How much weight can these things carry?' 'Where is the balance point?' things like that," said Panipinto. "They didn't identify themselves and we couldn't get any straight answers. They just kept asking weird questions and taking measurements."
"They just acted really strange," he added.
The reason for the secrecy was simple. When New Orleans was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, caught up in the fetid waters was the storage building for Loomis, Fargo and Co., a cash-handling company that handles armored car services. Bags upon bags of cash and coins had been left behind and needed to be recovered before other elements discovered their location.
According to Lt. Col. Tom Brewer, commander of the multi-state Task Force LAV, the group was approached by U.S. Treasury officials to help secure a perimeter around the building and assist in hauling the cash away. Because of the nature of the mission, secrecy was paramount.
The facility, said Miles, was a non-descript brick building located slightly off of the interstate, surrounded by strands of rusting barbed wire, a few cameras and an inoperable electric gate.
"It was a building you'd never suspect," said Panipinto. "It just looked like a truck depot."
Although the water had receded significantly, the facility was still surrounded by the neck-deep toxic porridge of chemicals, oil, gasoline, sewage and other unknown elements. After arriving on scene, one team of Soldiers jumped into the water and broke open the gates and broke open the doors. A second group then hitched their LAVs to several surrounding armored cars and pulled them out of the way so that another LAV could back into the doorway.
Miles, who entered the building to assist with the movement, said the images he saw were simply amazing. "Papers were everywhere...receipt-like papers, all soaked," said Miles. "It had a very distinct smell, like absolutely soft money. You know...money and paper."
About four inches of foul-smelling black water still cover the floor, Miles said. Additional black water dripped from the ceilings and ran down the walls.
Brewer described the scene to an Omaha World-Herald reporter as looking like "King Solomon's mine - bags of (coins), money stacked everywhere."
Sept 30, 2005
Capt. Kevin Hynes, Army News Service (Hynes serves with the Nebraska National Guard).
