Search turned up $220K in silver bars

MUNCIE – While they didn’t find a body during a massive search of a northern Delaware County property in early November, authorities did uncover a treasure of sorts.

Court documents filed Friday revealed Muncie police found an estimated $220,000 in silver bars in one of five safes confiscated during the Nov. 5-7 search efforts.

That safe – one of several found at 18710 N. Wheeling Ave., where most of the search activity took place – had been stored outside.

It contained 120 silver bars weighing 100 ounces, and 338 smaller silver bars, each weighing 10 ounces. The total weight of the silver exceeded 950 pounds.

The documents, filed in Delaware Circuit Court 1, listed more than 250 items seized in response to search warrants. Included were more than 100 guns and a large quantity of ammunition.

The warrants were issued after an informant told police James T. “Buddy” Reynolds, who died in 2012, for years operated a “marijuana distribution empire” at the 140-acre site, just south of the community of Wheeling, and had buried cash in barrels on the property.

That man also claimed that Reynolds had fatally shot an associate and buried his body at the site. No human remains were found during two days of searching and digging.

While some of the items discovered during the search might seem unusual – among them nearly a quarter-million dollars in silver and currency, the large number of firearms, and an underground bunker found beneath a storage shed – that is not to say any laws have been violated.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said Friday that authorities are investigating whether the items seized – an officer said this week that includes “tubs and tubs of documents” – are evidence of a crime, or whether “any of the seized property is related to criminal activity.”

“If the property can be tied to criminal activity, including money laundering, it can be subject to civil forfeiture” by state or federal authorities, Hoffman said.

“If that property is not tied to illegal activity, if it is not illegal to possess and not stolen, it will be returned to the owner.”

According to property tax records, the land and buildings at the main search site are now owned by Donald Jason Mills, a nephew of “Buddy” Reynolds.

The informant and at least one other person – described in a court document as a member of the extended Reynolds family – told police Mills had maintained his late uncle’s marijuana-dealing operation. Mills has not been charged with any crimes.

The documents filed Friday also revealed that:

* Unspecified amounts of marijuana – or what was described as a “green plant-like substance” – were found on three properties searched – at 18710 N. Wheeling, a nearby property at 18510 N. Wheeling and at 1910 E. Delta Drive.

* Authorities to this point have been unable to open three of the safes seized.

* Along with the many firearms of various makes and designs, police seized a large quantity of ammunition, a silencer and a bullet-proof vest. The vast majority of the weapons, and other items including the safe that held the silver bars, were taken from 18710 N. Wheeling.

* In addition to the silver bars, authorities recovered a large number of coins, some in bags and boxes stored in still another safe, worth several thousand dollars.

* The materials seized from a safe deposit box at an Eaton bank included a “vacuum-sealed package” of $2,314 in cash, along with several silver coins. Costa Rican, German and Korean currency, and “Panama documents.”

According to a warrant, Reynolds moved to Panama before his 2012 death.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.