Convicted coin dealer settles in at new confines in southeast Ohio
Arizona Coin Collector
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081228/NEWS24/812280316/-1/NEWS
Convicted coin dealer settles in at new confines in southeast Ohio
Ex-political insider Noe draws laundry duty in prison
By STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Article published Sunday, December 28, 2008
Tom Noe, once a political insider who rubbed elbows
with governors, senators, and President Bush, is
now on laundry duty at Hocking Correctional Facility
in Nelsonville, Ohio.
The former Toledo-area rare-coin dealer - who is
serving an 18-year sentence stemming from his
conviction for stealing millions of dollars from a
$50 million rare-coin fund he managed for the Ohio
Bureau of Workers' Compensation - is settling into
the state prison, about 60 miles southeast of
Columbus.
Noe, 54, arrived at the minimum and medium-security
prison that houses 481 inmates earlier this month.
His life consists of lining up for head counts
several times each day and working as a laundry
attendant, making $16 to $24 per month - a far cry
from the millions the state allowed him to invest
and the million-dollar homes he lived in along Lake
Erie and in the Florida Keys.
"He gets up around 6 a.m., cleans up around his bunk,
goes to breakfast, then goes to work in the laundry,"
said Robin Gee, the spokesman for the prison,
recalling the typical day in the life of a Hocking
inmate.
His afternoon is filled with more work in the laundry,
three head counts, lunch and dinner, and then
recreational activities, such as arts and crafts,
movies, card games, or exercise - but no Internet,
Ms. Gee said. Visitors are allowed five days a week.
"Lights are out around 10 o'clock," Ms. Gee added.
Noe lives in a dorm with 214 other prisoners, sleeping
on either top or bottom of a bunk bed. The inmates
sharing his dorm range from people like him, who have
been convicted of financial crimes, to more violent
offenders such as rapists and murderers.
In 2006, a Lucas County judge sentenced Noe to 18 years
in prison and ordered him to pay $13.7 million after a
jury convicted him on 29 charges connected to his
management of the state's rare-coin funds.
Noe - the former chairman of the Ohio Board of Regents
and Ohio Turnpike Commission and former chairman of
the Lucas County Republican Party - was the central
figure in a scandal that became known as 'Coingate,'
which resulted in nearly 20 criminal convictions,
including that of former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft on ethics
charges. Noe is appealing his conviction on corruption,
theft, money laundering, and forgery charges,
asserting he didn't get a fair trial because of the
large amount of media coverage focused on his case.
Mr. Noe's problems began after The Blade in April,
2005, began writing about his management of the Ohio
Bureau of Workers' Compensation's rare-coin funds.
Noe isn't the only high-profile prisoner in the
Hocking prison.
Gerald Robinson, the Toledo priest convicted in 2006
of murdering Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in 1980, is
serving a sentence of 15 years to life at the prison.
Another Hocking inmate, Timothy J. Bowers, now 65,
gained national attention, including a headline in
the New York Times, last year when he robbed a bank.
According to media accounts, Bowers, who lost a job
as a deliveryman for a drug wholesaler, immediately
surrendered to a security guard in hopes he would
get a prison sentence as a bridge to Social Security,
which he could collect in just a few years.
Troy McCurdy, 67, of Blacklick, Ohio, was released
two years ago from Hocking after serving time there
on a conviction of aggravated vehicular assault.
McCurdy, in a telephone interview with The Blade,
said he spent most of his time in Hocking "working a
little bit, sleeping, and laying around."
"I didn't have it bad down there," said McCurdy, who
still visits the prison regularly for Alcoholics
Anonymous meetings.
McCurdy commented on Hocking's reputation as a prison
for "old folks." Hocking is known for housing the
state's oldest inmates, with an average age of 64.
"It is mainly like a rest home to me," said McCurdy,
who has spent time in other Ohio lock-ups. "
[Hocking] is a lot better because you don't have
all those kids."
McCurdy said he never had any problems with safety at
the prison and that some inmates were eager to talk
about what landed them behind bars.
"I guess everybody had their little story to tell,"
he said.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
classified Noe as a level two prisoner, meaning he's
considered medium security. The calculation was
based on a number of factors, including his notoriety,
the nature of his crimes, his age, and his criminal
history.
In time, Noe can become a minimum-security prisoner,
which potentially could qualify him for jobs outside
the prison, such as working on crews picking up litter
along expressways.
Before heading to state prison in October, Noe finished
serving nearly two years in a federal prison in Florida
after pleading guilty to making $45,400 in illegal
contributions to President Bush's re-election campaign.
Toledo attorney Jerry Phillips said Noe likely will
notice some differences between state and federal
prisons.
Federal prisons, especially low-security ones such as
the one where Noe was incarcerated, typically give
prisoners more room to roam and are less crowded,
Mr. Phillips said.
"A state institution is usually much more highly
regulated," Mr. Phillips said. "Probably the most
significant thing is his ability to move within the
institution and how crowded the institution is."
Contact Steve Eder at:
se...@theblade.com or
419-304-1680.
..