Surgeon Sentenced for Stealing Coins

A wealthy Coronado heart surgeon was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1 million Tuesday after pleading guilty to the theft of 70 rare coins from a prestigious Manhattan coin society.

Dr. Juan Suros XII appeared in a New York City courtroom and pleaded guilty to a count of grand larceny. The felony conviction raises questions about how it will affect Suros’ medical license in California.

Officials of the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance have said they will initiate their own investigation of Suros’ conduct. Earlier this month, a board official told The Times that, if disciplinary action is taken, it could range from a public reprimand to revocation of Suros’ license.

Under a plea-bargain agreement reached with New York prosecutors, Suros, 49, will serve his jail sentence at the Descanso honor camp in east San Diego County, beginning Jan. 13. Afterward, he will be placed on five years’ probation.

The $1-million fine also includes $160,000 in reparation to the American Numismatic Society, from which Suros stole the coins. The $1 million will be paid in yearly installments of $200,000.

Suros and his attorney, Don Birnbaum of Long Island, were not available for comment and have repeatedly rejected requests for interviews.

O Gerald McKelvey, spokesman for the New York County district attorney’s office, said the stiff fine was required by New York law, as was a jail sentence. The fine reflects the total value of the coins pilfered by Suros. All of the missing coins were recovered.

“Under the fines and reparations statute in New York, the fine represents the amount that Suros would have gained had he been able to keep the coins he stole. In fact, the law says that the fine could have been double the amount of the theft,” McKelvey said.

According to prosecutors, Suros had argued that the total value of the stolen coins was only $50,000.

Angry officials at the numismatic society told prosecutors that the theft of the coins had caused them irreparable harm.

“In the course of his depredations, Suros created a mess that can never be wholly untangled,” chief curator William E. Metcalf said in a letter to prosecutors. “The damage to the society’s good will is, by definition, incalculable.”

Suros was a member of the society when he was arrested April 15, 1989, at the exclusive Harvard Club in Manhattan by New York City detectives. A search of his briefcase revealed 13 stolen coins.

San Diego police were asked to search Suros’ home and office, where investigators seized his private collection of about 2,000 coins. An additional 57 stolen coins, mostly rare Spanish and Mexican pieces, were recovered in the second search.

As a member and benefactor of the society, Suros was allowed to handle coin trays when he visited the group’s office. Police said curators began to notice in February 1989 that coins mysteriously disappeared every time Suros handled the trays.

In an interview with New York investigators, Suros admitted taking the coins “because he loved them so much he just had to have them,” officials said.

Suros, who graduated from the University of Barcelona in Spain, also uses the name Juan XII, Count of Besalu. He is board-certified in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery and has an office in Chula Vista, and is considered one of the ablest heart surgeons in the United States.