'Clark Rockefeller' to Get Half His Gold Coins Back

BOSTON – The man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller will get back about half of the gold coins and cash seized by federal authorities after he was arrested for allegedly kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter, under an agreement reached Monday.

Prosecutors agreed to turn over 160 gold coins — worth about $140,000 — and $6,480 in cash so he can pay for his defense. Prosecutors and the man's attorneys said the money came from a divorce settlement with his ex-wife.

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"Clark Rockefeller" was charged with kidnapping his daughter, Reigh Boss, during a supervised visit in Boston in July.

After his arrest in August, he was identified as Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter (GAYR'-hahrtz-ry-tur), a German national who has been labeled a "person of interest" in the 1985 disappearance of a San Marino, Calif., couple, Linda and Jonathan Sohus.

During a hearing in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday, Assistant District Attorney David Deakin said prosecutors agreed to return half of the cash and coins seized because there was no evidence Gerhartsreiter obtained the currency illegally and he "has a right to pay for his defense."

Deakin said, however, that prosecutors consider the materials evidence of Gerhartsreiter's "pre-meditation" in the kidnapping of his daughter and plan to present photos of them at his trial.

The agreement also allows Gerhartsreiter's defense to seek the return of the rest of the coins and cash at a later date. Authorities seized 321 gold coins and nearly $13,000 in cash when Gerhartsreiter was arrested in Baltimore.

Tim Bradl, one of Gerhartsreiter's lawyers, said the agreement also allows the defense to get the keys to his Baltimore condominium, where he allegedly took his daughter. Bradl said Gerhartsreiter wants his attorneys to retrieve dolls in the home so they can be returned to his daughter.

The FBI said in August that it matched fingerprints from Gerhartsreiter's immigration papers from the early 1980s to those taken from a wine glass he touched in July, about the time he is accused of snatching his daughter. He has insisted in media interviews that his name is Clark Rockefeller and that he does not remember large chunks of his past.