A federal judge will sentence a former National Archives employee for stealing thousands of recordings from the National Archives and selling many on eBay. Leslie Charles Waffen is scheduled to be sentenced this (Thursday) morning in Greenbelt, Md. Mr. Waffen, a 40-year employee, has acknowledged stealing thousands of sound recordings from the archive, and prosecutors say more than 1,000 were sold on eBay. He pleaded guilty to theft of government property in October and will likely spend a year and a half in prison.
You can read my earlier articles about the thefts if you start at http://goo.gl/jEkPS.
The man who noticed the theft and helped capture the thief is a retired radio engineer from Connecticut, J. David Goldin. It was Goldin's meticulous record-keeping and some sleuthing worthy of a modern-day detective drama, however, that brought Waffen to authorities' attention and helped catch him. Goldin spotted on eBay a record he'd donated to the archive in the 1970s, setting off an investigation.
You can read more in an article by Jessica Gresko of the Associated Press at http://goo.gl/GhYuI.
UPDATE: A Maryland judge gave Leslie Charles Waffen 18 months in prison for stealing audio recordings and then selling them on eBay. The 67-year-old man was also sentenced to two years of supervised probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
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