3 on trial in Yukon for alleged gold heist

Call it The Gold Heist on Horse Creek.

And no, it's not anold Western pulp novel.

It's a modern-day tale involving an old-time Yukon miner living roughon a remote claim, a hidden stash of gold and silver, and three people accused of conspiring to find and sell the treasureafter the miner's death.

The three accused Robert Venables, his mother Joanne Louise Venables and his partner, Carrie Ann Russell, all from Whitehorse were on trial lastweek in Yukon territorial court. The trial resumes Monday.

Robert Venables is charged with theft and possession of gold and silver exceeding $5,000, Russell is charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000 and another count of possession under $5,000,and Joanne Louise Venablesischarged with possessing stolen property under $5,000.

According to court filings, the goodsare alleged to beabout $106,000 of gold and silver coins, gold nuggets and a silver bartakento a Whitehorse gem shop to be sold offin September 2017.

Prosecutors saythe treasure belonged to Anthony Kopp a 76-year-old miner who had died a few months earlier.

Court documents, filed by anRCMPinvestigator, describe Kopp as a "hoarder" who had been living for decades on his mining claims near Horse Creek, in the Lake Laberge area north of Whitehorse.

It's alleged that after Kopp died in May2017, the Venables and Russellconspired to ransack his home, steal what they found, and sell it for cash.

Eventually the lawcame knocking.

Koppdiagnosed with dementia

Allegationsagainst the three accused are laid out in an application filed to the court in Julyby an RCMP investigator. The officer was seeking banking records from Robert Venables, and governmentdocuments related to an undeclared income investigation into the Venables and Russell.

The application by Const. Craig AndrewThurdetails the police investigation to that point.

It tells of the months leading up to Kopp's death, when he was in Whitehorse hospital and diagnosed with dementia. He came to hospital in January 2017, with his dog, after being found wandering on the highway north of Whitehorse "in a disoriented mental state," and carrying$24,550 in cash.

Kopp stayed in hospital through that winter and into the spring. He reportedly had no family but he did have visitors.

Testifying in court lastweek, social worker Rebeccca Miller saidneighbours from the Lake Laberge area would come see Kopp, many of them concerned about his well-being.

It was different when Robert Venables and Russell came to visit, she told the court.

One time, Millerheard Venables ask Koppfor the location of a black box. Another time, she saidVenables and Russell tried to get Kopp to sign a piece of paper. They told her they wanted permission to protect his property.

One neighbour, testifying in court last week, said it was common knowledge in the areathat Kopp had a gold stash somewhere.

Another witness, Shauna Clare from Yukon's public guardians office (legal guardians of Kopp's estate), testified that she visited the property near Horse Creek several times between August 2017 and October 2018 and each time, she noticed more things missing chainsaws, dirt bikes and ATVs.

On her first visit, she found 175 one-ounce silver coins hidden under some junk.

Thur also visited the property with Clare in October 2018, his court filing says.

"It was obvious to me that Anthony Kopp had been a hoarder of many things for many years," he wrote, and the silver coins Clare found "had likely not been the only items of value hidden by Anthony Kopp on the property."

Chunks of refined gold

Prosecutors at the trial are trying to establish that the accused found some ofKopp's hidden treasure, and sold it.

Court heard that Robert Venables and Russellin September 2017 sold more than 30 troy ounces of gold, in chunks,to a B.C. buyerthrough an agent in Whitehorse. They told the agentthat it came from Horse Creek.

The buyertestified in court that it wasn't the sort of gold typically found and sold by Yukon placer miners it was refined and pure, as if a gold bar or some coins had been melted down into nuggets.

Venables was paid just over $50,000 in two separate purchases, the court heard.

According to Thur's court filing, the investigation began in September 2017just days after Venables and Russell allegedly sold their gold and silver. An acquaintance of the accused had tipped off police.

In a ramblingvideo statement to police, recorded in late 2017 and played in court on Friday, Venablestold officers he had found gold and silver a few kilometres away fromKopp'sclaims sometime in the previous months. He told police he had tripped over a tube with gold and silver in it, and he took it after determining it was likely on public land.

In the video, Venables also said Kopp had asked for his help while in the hospital, and it was upsetting to be under suspicion.

"I'm an honest man. I'm not a thief," he said.

"I loved the man ... I never stole from the man."