eBay causes trouble for NY archivist
NEW YORK (AP) - January 29, 2008 With a little research, Virginia attorney Joseph Romito
discovered that the four-page letter written by former Vice
President John Calhoun belonged to the state library, and he
alerted authorities.
Investigators placed the winning $1,800 bid on the letter -
eventually learning the seller was a longtime state archivist who
stole hundreds of historic artifacts, selling them to pay for home
renovations and his daughter's credit card debt, prosecutors
charged Monday.
Daniel Lorello, 54, an archives and records management
specialist in the New York Department of Education, is accused of
stealing items including Davy Crockett Almanacs, Currier and Ives
lithographs, and the 1865 railroad timetable for Abraham Lincoln's
funeral train. Authorities believe he made tens of thousands of
dollars.
"This crime is especially repugnant, because it's dealing with
historic documents," state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said at a
news conference Monday. "It's literally stealing the legacy of the
state of New York page by page."
Lorello, who lives in Rensselaer, pleaded not guilty Monday to
charges of grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property
and scheme to defraud and was released on his own recognizance. He
faces up to 25 years in prison.
"These kinds of items ... represent the heritage of all
Americans," Romito said. "I am gratified that I had some small
part to play in it."
Lorello, who began working at the state archives in 1979, was
placed on administrative leave from his $71,732-a-year job. He made
no comment as he left court and messages left on his answering
machine were not immediately returned.
Officials found hundreds of documents and artifacts in Lorello's
home, which they searched over the weekend.
In a handwritten statement released by Cuomo's office, Lorello
said he took "more than 300 or 400 items in 2007 alone."
He said he "particularly liked" artifacts associated with the
Revolutionary, Civil and Mexican wars, World War I, black Americana
and "anything related to the Roosevelts and Jewish items."
Authorities believe the theft goes back to 2002, although it
accelerated in 2007.
"I took things on an as-needed basis to pay family bills, such
as house renovations, car bills, tuition and my daughter's credit
card problem," Lorello wrote.
He said he took many items last year because his daughter
"unexpectedly ran up a $10,000 credit card bill."
Lorello also said his pilfering increased after learning that
surveillance cameras were scheduled to be installed into the
library.
It's unclear how much Lorello made from his sales. In some cases
he went to trade shows and exchanged the stolen items for others,
authorities said. But officials said in just two sales of Davy
Crockett Almanacs - popular 19th century pamphlets about the
frontier hero's exploits - he received more than $5,000.
Altogether, officials at the attorney general's office believe
his profits to be in the "tens of thousands."
"We're working on recovering those documents sold on eBay,"
Cuomo said. "We're asking the traders to please check their
collections."
EBay is working with state officials to obtain the past sales
records from Lorello's account.