Slap on the wrist for stealing Teddy Roosevelt's revolver

A former Queens resident was sentenced to two years probation and a $500 fine Friday after pleading guilty to stealing the pistol Theodore Roosevelt used in the Spanish-American War.

Anthony Joseph Tulino, 55, a postal worker from DeLand, Fla., was also sentenced to 50 hours of community service by U.S. Magistrate A. Kathleen Tomlinson in Central Islip.

Tomlinson said she decided not to send Tulino to jail for the violation of the American Antiquities Act of 1906 because he had turned his life around since the theft 17 years ago from a locked display case without an alarm at the Old Orchard Museum at Sagamore Hill National Historical Site in Cove Neck.

Full article here. I'd feel a lot better about the sentence if the man had turned himself in, or at least made some attempt to return the gun to the museum. And buried at the end of the story: Tulino was on probation for stealing a painting at the time he stole the revolver.

Posted by David on March 7, 2007 11:30 AM