Tip Leads to Trouble, Not Buried Treasure

Three men spent St. Patrick's Day looking for that proverbial pot of gold, but their adventure didn't exactly take them to the end of the rainbow.

Police were called to an Albion Road property March 17 after someone spotted the three walking into the barn on a neighboring property, which is vacant and up for sale.

She called the owner, who said he didn't give anyone permission to be there, and then police, who caught the trio still in the barn.

The men -- two from Cleveland and one from North Royalton -- weren't there to vandalize or steal or deal drugs, they told officers. They were there to dig for buried treasure.

Someone -- apparently, the boyfriend of someone who used to rent a stall there -- told them he had buried money in the barn.

"They decided to come out to see if it was true," Detective Lt. John Janowski said.

And where did he get all the money he buried? "He told them he was an heir to John D. Rockefeller," Janowski said.

The three guys went all the way out to the barn before realizing the story sounded a bit, well, stupid. They soon quit digging. 

But it was too late -- police had already arrived. Now all three will face a trespassing charge.