Thefts From The National Archive- Arrest Made

[Guy Gane III]

Re: Thefts From The National Archive- Arrest Made

Disgusting. :angry_smi

[33rd VA Co. H]

Re: Thefts From The National Archive- Arrest Made

The funny thing of it all is how he got busted. Two friends of mine were the ones who turned him in to the feds. Many of you will recognize the names Jim and Dean Thomas. Jim was searching ebay for a birthday present for Dean and bought a couple of letters. After the gift was received, Dean was checking out the sellers other auctions. Of all things to come across was a letter dealing with ordinance that Dean had made a copy of 20 years earlier. He had actually included information from said letter in his Roundball to Rimfire book series. Talk about a stupid theif!!




Brothers help feds in Civil War artifact bust
By TIM PRATT
Evening Sun Reporter
Article Launched: 03/24/2007 07:57:58 AM EDT



Brothers Dean and Jim Thomas are used to reading tales of intrigue and deception. They own and operate Thomas Publications west of Gettysburg and have shelves full of Civil War books and documents.

But the Thomas brothers were recently caught up in a modern day web of thick plots and double dealing.

A rare-book dealer was recently charged in U.S. District Court with selling Civil War documents and letters stolen from the National Archives and Records Administration branch in Philadelphia. And it was the brothers who discovered the stolen items on Internet auction site eBay and reported the matter to federal officials.

Denning McTague, a 40-year-old intern at the Archives, is charged with stealing 165 Civil War-era letters, orders and telegrams relating to supplying guns, gunpowder and swords to troops. He is accused of then attempting to sell the loot on eBay.

If not for the Thomas brothers' assistance, McTague might still be profiting from the theft, officials said.

"Thanks in large part to your efforts, we have already recovered approximately 100 of these documents," Archives Inspector General Paul Brachfeld wrote to Jim Thomas in a November letter. Since then, nearly all of the stolen documents have been recovered.

The Thomas brothers' saga began in September when Jim was searching the auction site for a gift for Dean.

Jim won bids on three Civil War-era documents and letters that, little did he know, had been stolen from Archives. Dean then began looking at other items the dealer had for sale. Upon closer inspection, Dean realized he had seen at least one of the documents before.

Roughly 20 years ago, Dean was doing research at the Archives and made a photocopy of one of the documents. He then used that information in a book he wrote entitled "Round Ball to Rimfire: A History of Civil War Small Arms Ammunition."

"I called the Archives to see if they were having a sale," Dean said with a laugh.

Archives special agents immediately traveled to Gettysburg to work with the Thomas brothers toward buying more items, Dean said. Agents then sent e-mails from Jim's account to the seller to arrange more buys.

Dean estimates the stolen items were worth a few thousand dollars.

"The interesting thing is if Jim hadn't been searching on the Web, we probably never would have known the stuff had been stolen," Dean said.

Dean Thomas, a Fairfield Borough councilman, said he was awarded with an "attaboy" from Archives officials.

McTague is scheduled for an April 4 arraignment at U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. If found guilty, McTague could potentially face 12 to 18 months in prison, said Rich Manieri, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office.

"The National Archives is very concerned about theft from our holdings," Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said. "We consider it a violation of the public trust and we take this very seriously. Any time we are alerted documents have been taken from archives, we will pursue it vigorously and make sure those documents are returned."