Air Force Museum theft update

Blasting previous administrators of the National Museum of the Air Force, a federal judge Wednesday imposed a one-year sentence on a former chief of collections who sold an armored vehicle stolen from the museum in 1996.

Scott A. Ferguson also was ordered to pay the federal government $29,000 in restitution, reflecting U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice's calculation of the value of the Peacekeeper he said Ferguson sold to a friend. . .

Federal prosecutors sought to increase Ferguson's penalty, and others sent letters contending it was "common sense" that Ferguson was responsible for 200 other items missing from the museum, including wooden mold patterns for the 1903 Wright brothers' engine reported missing in January 2001.

One letter seeking a stiff penalty for Ferguson came from the chief executive officer and president of the American Association of Museums. It said one recent museum theft netted the offender 15 years in prison, Rice said during the sentencing hearing. . .

The Dayton Daily News reported in November 2003 that more than 3,500 items, medals, ribbons, helmets, machine guns and air-to-air missiles were missing, stolen or not properly accounted for at the museum.

Posted by David on April 21, 2005 9:59 AM