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Cops Steal Comics

Two Houston-area investigators are accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in rare comic books while working an embezzlement case.

A Harris County grand jury on Tuesday indicted Dustin Deutsch, 41, with felony theft by a public servant and tampering with evidence, the Houston Chronicle reported. Deutsch and his former partner at the Harris County District Attorney's Office, 39-year-old Lonnie Blevins, are accused of stealing the comics from a storage unit in 2012.

Both men were assigned to investigate attorney Anthony Chiofalo, who stole about $9 million from a crane-manufacturing company. He was sentenced to 40 years in May after pleading guilty to first-degree felony theft.

Chiofalo bought hundreds of collectibles with the stolen money, including a first-edition Batman comic valued around $900,000 and a baseball helmet signed by former Cincinnati Reds player Pete Rose.

The FBI said Deutsch had keys to a storage unit that held the vintage comics, and that Deutsch gave the rarities to Blevins, who sold them in Chicago.



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