Police Blamed For Loss Of Silver -- 4,200 Ounces Allegedly Missing From Bank Box

SEATAC - More than five years have passed, but SeaTac City Councilman Frank Hansen still is smarting from Kent's raid on Ross Hansen's gold and silver business.

And it's not because the councilman's nephew later ended up in federal prison.

The former mayor of SeaTac says he lost 4,200 ounces of silver - worth about $20,000 by today's prices - when Kent Police seized Auburn Precious Metals in 1989.

Frank Hansen blames police.

"A lot of things the police did there were not right, ethical, logical or anything else," he said. "They rampaged in there with guns out, and they seized everything, but then they didn't charge him with anything.

"One way or another, my silver disappeared. It was there before the raid. And it wasn't there after."

Ross Hansen claims Kent Police seized, then lost, stole or sold his uncle's silver.

But police say they never opened the safe-deposit box rented to Frank Hansen until he was present. The box was empty.

According to police, Frank Hansen claimed at the time that his nephew must have stolen the silver from him.

A similar amount of silver was found in an adjacent safe-deposit box that was not listed as rented to anyone. Ross Hansen told police it belonged to marijuana grower Ray Hendrickson, not his uncle.

The city seized the silver, later sold it and kept the money.

"If that was Frank Hansen's silver, all Ross had to do was tell us, and we would have returned it," said police Capt. Chuck Miller.

Miller acknowledged the city sold the silver even though police never determined who owned it.

Uncle Frank hasn't spoken to his nephew since the latter was sent to prison on tax-evasion charges. All he knows is he's out more than $20,000 that he says was set aside for his children's education.

"It's true that Ross was up to no good, but the police were way outside of the law," he said. "It was a big mess. I'd just as soon forget about it."