25 Years After Gardner Museum Heist, Video Raises Questions

New York Times ^ | August 6, 2015 | By TOM MASHBERG

[Brad from Tennessee]

BOSTON — In 1990, Richard Abath was a 23-year-old self-described hippie and guitarist for a rock band named Ukiah who, while moonlighting as a security guard, allowed two thieves posing as police officers to enter the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum here.

For 25 years, his decision to buzz in the men who carted away $500 million worth of art has been largely treated as the hapless act of a rookie watchman who fell for a bluff.

But on Thursday, federal officials still investigating the art heist — the largest in American history — drew fresh attention to Mr. Abath’s actions at 1:24 a.m. on March 18, 1990, (the morning of the crime) by releasing an enhanced, if foggy, six-minute videotape from the day before.

Officials say it shows Mr. Abath, while on guard duty the previous day, opening the same side doors entered by the thieves and admitting a man in a waist-length coat and upturned collar.

The man is first shown backing up his car to a museum side entrance that led directly to the guard station. He steps out of his car and buzzes the door. On the tape, Mr. Abath is seen admitting the man, greeting him briefly and reviewing a small document that the man brought with him. The pair is then out of sight for several minutes before the man walks out.

In a statement released with the video, officials with the United States Attorney’s office in Massachusetts did not identify Mr. Abath. And in interviews on Thursday, they carefully avoided suggesting what the release of the video seems to imply: that his actions are again being scrutinized as part of the investigation into a case that has bewildered the authorities for a quarter-century. . .

[SunkenCiv]

I’m glad they didn’t rush to judgment. /s