TOLEDO, Ohio — Deep sea treasure hunter, Tommy Thompson, was born in northwest Ohio. He helped discover one of the most famous shipwrecks in American history, and was released from prison after more than a decade behind bars. However, the reason he was even in prison is that the location of thousands of gold coins and hundreds of gold bars recovered from the wreck still remains missing.
Thompson was freed earlier this month after a federal judge determined continued incarceration would not compel him to reveal the location of missing treasure from the SS Central America, also known as the Ship of Gold. He gained national attention in 1988 when he led the team that located the wreck more than 7,000 feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.
The discovery was considered one of the most significant shipwreck recoveries in U.S. history. Salvage crews retrieved thousands of gold coins and hundreds of gold bars from the wreck. However, the discovery later became the center of a lengthy legal dispute, as investors who funded Thompson’s expedition sued him in 2005, saying they never received proceeds from roughly $50 million in treasure sales…