4 men seek dismissal of currency theft case

Lawyers for four men indicted last year on felony charges for allegedly stealing a collection of early 20th century US currency have filed a motion to dismiss the charges, the Essex District Attorney's office confirmed yesterday.

Roofers Tim Crebase, 24, of Methuen, and Barry Billcliff, 27, of Manchester, N.H., said they had found about 1,800 antique bills in a 2-foot-wide box while digging up a small tree in Crebase's yard. The money was later appraised at more than $100,000.

A Newbury woman, Sylvia Littlefield, then 75, later told police the money was stolen by Crebase, Billcliff, and another roofer, Matt Ingham, of Newton, N.H., who had repaired a barn at a farm she owns.

The three roofers and Kevin Kozak, 27, of Methuen, were arrested April 29 after authorities charged them with taking the money from metal cans in the barn's rafters and using Kozak's house to establish their version of the story.

Littlefield said the money might have been stored in the barn's roof by previous generations of her family, who once ran a cider mill on the farm.

Crebase's lawyer, Michael P. Ruane, declined to comment on the case, in which he helped file a motion to dismiss earlier this week in Lawrence District Court.

James Krasnoo, an Andover attorney, said the dispute over the dated currency presents an interesting abandoned property case.

''If I undo a large rock [that has] never been moved in the years you've owned the property and find money," Krasnoo suggested hypothetically, ''that would suggest to me that's abandoned property."

But when items are found inside a residence, such as an attic, it is far less likely they are considered abandoned. ''The law is very clear about 'finders keepers.' It's applying a clear set of law to a murky set of facts."