5 years and counting: Ex-treasure hunter still stuck in jail
A former deep-sea treasure hunter is about to mark his fifth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of 500 missing coins made from gold found in an historic shipwreck.
FILE - In this Aug. 29, 1991, file photo, Tommy Thompson stands at the helm of the Arctic Explorer as Bob Evans, center, and Barry Schatz look on in Norfolk, Va. Thompson, a former deep-sea treasure hunter, is about to mark his fifth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of 500 missing gold coins found in the historic shipwreck of the S.S. Central America, known as the Ship of Gold. [Photo: AP]
Research scientist Tommy Thompson isn't incarcerated for breaking the law. Instead, he's being held in contempt of court for an unusually long stretch — well past the normal maximum limit of an 18-month internment in cases of witnesses refusing to cooperate.
But nothing is usual about Thompson's case, which dates to his discovery of the S.S. Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, in 1988. The gold rush-era ship sank in a hurricane off South Carolina in 1857 with thousands of pounds of gold aboard, contributing to an economic panic.
FILE - This November 1989 file photo shows Tommy Thompson holding a $50 pioneer gold piece retrieved from the wreck of the ship S.S. Central America. The former deep-sea treasure hunter is about to mark his fifth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of 500 missing gold coins found in the historic shipwreck. [Photo: AP]
Despite an investors lawsuit and a federal court order, Thompson still won't cooperate with authorities trying to find those coins, according to court records, federal prosecutors and the judge who found Thompson in contempt.
"He creates a patent for a submarine, but he can't remember where he put the loot," federal Judge Algenon Marbley said during a 2017 hearing.
Thompson's legal troubles stem from the 161 investors who paid Thompson $12.7 million to find the ship, never saw any proceeds and finally sued.
Back in 2012, a different federal judge ordered Thompson to appear in court to disclose the coins' whereabouts. Instead, Thompson fled to Florida where he lived with his longtime female companion at a hotel where he was living near Boca Raton. U.S. marshals tracked him down and arrested him in early 2015.
Thompson pleaded guilty for his failure to appear and was sentenced to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Thompson's criminal sentence has been delayed until the issue of the gold coins is resolved.
That April 2015 plea deal required Thompson to answer questions in closed-door sessions about the whereabouts of the coins, which the government says are worth $2 million to $4 million. Importantly, he must also "assist" interested parties in finding the coins under that deal.
Thompson refused several times, and on Dec. 15, 2015, Marbley found Thompson in contempt of court and ordered him to stay in jail — and pay a $1,000 daily fine — until he responds.
In late October of this year, Thompson appeared by video for his latest hearing.
"Mr. Thompson, are you ready to answer the seminal question in this case as to the whereabouts of the gold?" Marbley said.
"Your honor, I don't know if we've gone over this road before or not, but I don't know the whereabouts of the gold," Thompson responded. "I feel like I don't have the keys to my freedom."
And with that, Thompson settled back into his current situation: housed in a federal prison in Milan, Michigan, he's now spent more than 1,700 days in jail and owes nearly $1.8 million in fines — and counting. Thompson's attorney declined to comment.
