Four Men Charged In Heist Of More Than $230,000 In Dimes From Big Rig

Federal authorities unsealed charges on four men from Philadelphia over the heist of a truck carrying more than $230,000 in dimes that took place earlier this year in Northeast Philadelphia. 

The four men charged are 25-year-old Rakiem Savage, 31-year-old Ronald Byrd, 30-year-old Haneef Palmer and 32-year-old Malik Palmer, according to 6ABC in Philadelphia. They face charges of conspiracy, robbery and theft of government money, among other charges the report says. 

The suspects tried to convert "thousands of dimes" at cash machines in Maryland or at deposits in Philadelphia area banks, the report says. 

Recall earlier this year we wrote about how the thieves made out with "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in dimes. After a discovery of the trailer was made back in April, police said at the time that roughly 2 million dimes were stolen. 

The truck had $750,000 in dimes in it altogether, the original report said. Many were found strewn about in a Walmart parking lot where the trailer was parked. The dimes had been picked up at the Philadelphia Mint, but the driver of the truck went home to sleep before planning to drive the next day to Florida. 

Capt. Jack Ryan of Northeast Detectives commented earlier this year: "This is common practice - to pick up a load going to Florida and go home for the night, get to sleep, and get on the road in the morning."

He didn't comment on the driver's decision to leave $750,000 in dimes in a trailer in the Walmart parking lot overnight, however.

"They were trying to cross-load the dimes into other things. There are dimes all over the parking lot," Ryan said of the heist. 

One bystander astutely noted at the time: "I feel like if they try to go to the bank and cash it in, they're going to get caught. They'll be like, 'Well, where did you get all of these dimes from?'"