The former archivist at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia who stole thousands of museum documents and sold them on the Internet was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison.
Lester F. Weber sold at least 3,500 documents — from collections he was supposed to oversee — on eBay under his wife's name. The items included everything from brochures and boarding passes for old ships to a lawsuit against the company that owned the Titanic.
During sentencing, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith stated, "What stands out about this case was not only the 'surreptitious and dishonest' manner of the crime, but also the repetitive nature of it over a long period of time. You did this ... because of your greed and furthering your own pocketbook.
Weber was previously ordered to pay the museum the $172,357 he made on the sales. Smith also sentenced Weber's wife, Lori E. Childs, to 15 months in prison for filing a false tax return. She pleaded guilty in September.
Details are available at http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_museum_1218dec18,0,6554694.story.
