Intern gets 15 months for stealing Civil War Papers From National Archives

[CC sewing]

(I don't think anyone has posted a follow-up on this story yet. If someone did and I missed it, feel free to delete my post!)

By Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A financially strapped book dealer who stole scores of Civil War documents from U.S. archives and sold them on eBay was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in prison.

Link to story (link repaired now)

[paulcalloway]

Re: Intern gets 15 months for stealing Civil War Papers From National Archives

That link doesn't work for me.

I'm very curious if the documents were retrieved.

[MissouriStateGuard]

Re: Intern gets 15 months for stealing Civil War Papers From National Archives

Try this link:

http://www.courttv.com/news/2007/0713/intern_ap.html

It sounds as if their not sure exactly how many documents were stolen, so it's extremely doubtful they were all recovered.

A very sad commentary.

V/R,
Kip Lindberg

[rogue]

Re: Intern gets 15 months for stealing Civil War Papers From National Archives

Mayhaps the US could borrow an idea from the Chinese, using an example of how they dealt with a politician who took bribes and allowed tainted food to be sold (world-wide), and use execution to deter theft by financially stressed archivists.
The same recommendation for those caught digging on NPS grounds.
Steve Sullivan
somewhat serious

[Gary of CA]

Re: Intern gets 15 months for stealing Civil War Papers From National Archives

Virtually all the documents were retrieved. The FBI went to Ebay and contacted the purchasers and encouraged them to return the stolen documents. I doubt if they had to threaten anyone once they mentioned possession of stolen property (a crime by state law) but also the Federal crime of stealing from a museum (anything over 100 years old or worth over $10k that is stolen from a museum or cultural institution falls within the FBI's jurisdiction).