{Louisville, Kentucky}...Federal prosecutors and bankruptcy trustee Michael L. Baker are locked in a tug-of-war over $250,000 that belonged to a convicted con man, and, until three years ago, remained buried in a cooler at a northern Kentucky golf course. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that federal prosecutors didn't give proper notice of their intent to seize the money for restitution. The court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith of Cincinnati to decide if 51 year old A. William Erpenbeck, former president of Edgewood, Ky.-based Erpenbeck Development Co., will get the money or his creditors. Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote that prosecutors did not properly give Baker notice of forfeiture proceedings, depriving him of an opportunity to lay claim to the cash. Erpenbeck is serving a 25 year prison sentence at the federal prison in Coleman, Florida. His projected release date is November 14, 2025. The bizarre case stretches back almost 10 years in northern Kentucky and southern Ohio.
