Former Archivist to Receive Jail Term for Sale of Historic Documents

As reported in this newsletter on January 28, 2008, Daniel Lorello of Rensselaer, New York, a New York State Department of Education archivist, was charged with grand larceny, possession of stolen property, and fraud. He pleaded innocent at the time but later switch his plea to guilty.

Lorello has since been terminated from his state position and is expected to receive a sentence of up to six years in prison on October 1. He must also pay $73,000 in restitution to those who unknowingly bought stolen property from him and returned it, plus a $56,000 confession of judgment to the Department of Education, and must forfeit all items seized as well as his private book collection.

Lorello, who was making roughly $70,000 per year as an archives and records management specialist with the state Department of Education, reportedly stole the items on an as-needed basis to help pay his family's bills for house renovations, cars, tuition expenses, and his daughter's $10,000 credit card debt, according to a four-page confession he gave authorities in January. He sold some of what he stole on eBay and traded other items at collectors’ shows, according to the attorney general. The state has so far recovered more than 1,600 items.

Maybe the prison library will have an opening for Lorello.

You can see my earlier article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/01/new-york-state.html. You can now find a number of recent news articles about Lorello's guilty plea and jail term at http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&nolr=1&q=%22Daniel+Lorello%22&btnG=Search.