Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

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Posted By: Steve Tuttle 

Ok, granted, this isn't baseball card-related, but it sure is satisfying to read:

NEW YORK -- Two men have been arrested for allegedly trying to sell part of a $2 million stamp collection that vanished from the trunk of a Florida rental car four years ago.

The men, Ulysses Cheda and Jose Palmer, were charged Friday in U.S. District Court with transporting stolen goods. They were arrested Thursday after they sold some of the stamps to a gallery owner, prosecutors say.

The stolen collection included extremely rare stamps such as New York State five-cent stamps issued in 1845 as well as Confederate stamps worth $400,000.

The collection disappeared in February 1999 in Sarasota, Fla. Dealer Stanley Piller, in town for a stamp exhibition, said he left his car to get directions and returned a few minutes later to find the trunk open and the stamps gone.

Cheda and Palmer allegedly tried to sell a New York gallery owner $100,000 worth of stamps last month. The owner, whose name was not released by authorities, recognized the stamps as part of the collection stolen from Piller and called authorities.

Cheda and Palmer were arrested after the gallery owner paid them $50,000 for a box of stamps, federal agents said. They also recovered a 50-pound box that appeared to contain thousands of collectible stamps.