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Philadelphia Archives Thief Sentenced to 15 MonthsA U.S. District Court judge sentenced a former National Archives and Records Administration intern to 15 months in prison July 12 for stealing 164 historical documents from NARA’s Philadelphia facility and selling half of them on eBay. Denning McTague, who worked as an unpaid intern in the summer of 2006 while obtaining a master’s degree in library science at the State University of New York at Albany, had pleaded guilty to the charge in April. Judge Stewart Dalzell called the theft a wound inflicted on the “whole American populace,” and repeatedly referred to an impact statement on such thefts written by Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, the July 13 Philadelphia Daily News reported. Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan L. Fields argued that McTague resorted to the thefts as revenge for not being paid by the Archives, but his defense lawyer countered that he was a quiet man who was overwhelmed by debt and could not find a library job in the city. McTague had worked for two years as a local history specialist at the Nyack (N.Y.) Library before relocating to Philadelphia. McTague made about $9,000 from the online sales, according to NARA officials, and all but three items have been returned. Posted July 13, 2007. |
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