A Butler County man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to a charge of mail fraud in connection with a scheme to steal nearly $300,000 from a Monroeville businessman's bank account to buy gold coins.

Kirk Mechlin, 55, of Mars, admitted that he broke into the One Monroeville Center office of a Monroeville businessman in 2002 and stole his expired passport along with account statements for an individual retirement account and money market account maintained at PNC Bank. He also stole a set of keys for the man's Jaguar.

Federal prosecutors said Mechlin had PNC transfer $296,694 from the IRA account to the money market account, then rented office space in the businessman's name at an industrial park.

After that, Mechlin used the money to buy gold bullion coins from out-of-state dealers, which he had shipped to the industrial park address.

U.S. Postal Inspectors searched Mechlin's home in November 2004 and recovered the businessman's passport and bank records, and paperwork concerning the sale of the coins. Inspectors also recovered the businessman's 2002 Jaguar.