Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jan 2000
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2000 The Denver Post
Contact: letters@denverpost.com
Address: 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202
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Author: Marilyn Robinson and Kit Miniclier Denver Post Staff Writers

RAID ON LOCKER UNCOVERS MILLIONS

Jan. 20 - More than $5 million was found in a Fort Collins storage
locker linked to a convicted drug dealer who shot and killed himself
when he was stopped by police in Colby, Kan., sources say.

A separate stash of nearly $4 million more was found in the trunk of
the rental car carrying Robert Henry Golding and a companion,
authorities say.

Golding, 43, had been sought by U.S. marshals for nearly six years as
a parole violator when a Colby officer stopped the car Friday night
for an improper turn. Golding shot himself in the head during the
traffic stop.

"Our guy's case has literally been passed onto a higher
court,"

said John Butler, chief deputy U.S. marshal in San Antonio,
Texas.

A Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into the origin of the
money continues.

The seizure of the money in the Fort Collins locker apparently spurred
Golding's trip east, sources said. His suicide took place off
Interstate 70 about 50 miles east of the Colorado border.

Details of the raid on the storage locker were not disclosed, but
sources confirmed the $5 million figure.

"Authorities don't have an accurate count, but believe it to be in
excess of $5 million," one law-enforcement source said. He said they
were still counting the money.

Dozens of documents in other names but with Golding's photo were found
in the rental car, said Colby Police Chief Randall Jones.

"Some were blanks," said Jones. "There were Social Security cards,
birth certificates, identification cards and driver's licenses from
numerous states."

Jones said more than $3.75 million was found in the trunk of the
maroon 1999 Ford Taurus, which had been rented in Denver by Golding's
companion, Justin DeBusk, 26, of Katy, Texas.

The money - in bills ranging from $1 to $100 denominations - was found
in cellophanewrapped bundles stashed in cardboard boxes, a locked
duffel bag and a trash bag in the trunk, Jones said.

"The money appeared to be wrapped for storage," Jones
said.

After stopping the car, the police officer asked to search the vehicle
because DeBusk, the driver, was acting nervous.

"He was actually shaking," said Jones.

When the officer asked Golding to step out of the car, Jones said,
Golding did so but turned his back to the officer and made a quick
move toward his waist.

As the officer pushed Golding up against the vehicle, he heard a shot
and Golding went limp, Jones said. He had shot himself with a
.32-caliber semiautomatic handgun and died a short time later, Jones
said.

Police in Colby, population 5,700, jailed DeBusk on suspicion of
aiding and abetting a felon.

Officials said Golding was arrested in Denver last August on drug
charges under another name but disappeared before a fingerprint check
revealed his true identity. He also had been arrested three months
earlier in Hawaii under the same assumed name, authorities said.

"By the time they connected it, it was too late, he was long gone,"
said Dawn Gregory, a supervisor with the U.S. marshal's office in
Austin, Texas. "He probably has 50 aliases."

Golding was convicted in March 1985 in Austin of distribution of
drugs, possession of a fraudulent passport and income tax evasion and
was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. He was paroled in March
1994 and had been sought since May 1994 as a parole violator, marshals
said.

Officials at the DEA, U.S. attorney's office and Fort Collins police
declined to comment.