N.Y. Indicts Coronado Surgeon in $1-Million Rare Coins Theft

A wealthy heart surgeon from the San Diego suburb of Coronado was indicted on criminal charges Friday in New York, where he allegedly stole rare coins valued at more than $1 million from a prestigious collectors society.

The two-count indictment unsealed in New York State Supreme Court charged Dr. Juan B. Suros, who also uses the name of Juan XII, Count of Besalu, with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

The 48-year-old surgeon was released on his pledge to post $50,000 bail by Wednesday, said Gloria Montealegre, a spokeswoman for the New York district attorney’s office. If convicted, he faces a maximum 25 years in prison on the more serious grand larceny charge, a felony.

In addition, Montealegre said that her office plans to file a charge of perjury against Suros, saying that what he told investigators about the alleged theft differed from his sworn testimony before a New York grand jury.

Suros is accused of stealing about 71 rare Spanish and Mexican coins from the American Numismatic Society at the group’s Manhattan offices. The coins were discovered missing after Suros, himself a sophisticated coin collector, had registered to view the collections on a number of occasions, officials said.

The thefts allegedly occurred between Dec. 1, 1988, and April 15 this year.

The society is known as an international center for the study and exhibition of coins, medals and paper money. The collection is open for viewing to society members, scholars and historians by permission, and viewers are required to register their name and the items they wish to study.

Suros, a graduate of Spain’s University of Barcelona and considered a top heart surgeon, was not in his office Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Montealegre said that after he was arrested, Suros gave a videotaped statement in which he said he took the coins “because he loved them so much he just had to have them.”

She said he told a different story under oath to the grand jury, but she refused to discuss the exact nature of his grand jury testimony.