Former Space Museum Director Gets Three Years in Prison for Theft

Max Ary, former Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center president was sentenced this morning to 36 months in federal prison for his role in stealing and selling space artifacts from the museum, The Hutchinson News reports.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Thomas Marten also ordered an additional supervised release period of 36 months that will follow the prison sentence.

"I think a prison sentence is important in your case," said Judge Marten while delivering his decision, "for people to get the message," The Wichita Eagle reports.

Ary will also pay restitution for the stolen space artifacts, which includes property that belonged to NASA and the Cosmosphere. A hearing to be held within the next month will determine the amount.

Ary, 56, was convicted November 1, 2005, on a dozen federal charges, including three counts each of mail fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property, and two counts each of wire fraud, theft of government property and money laundering.

A routine audit conducted by the Cosmosphere staff in 2003 first found that hundreds of artifacts were missing from the museum's collection, which in turn led to the discovery of the unauthorized sales. Ary maintained he was innocent, testifying that he had made mistakes and confused museum and government property with his own.

For full coverage and history of this case, including an itemization of the artifacts that went missing, see collectSPACE.com.

Here is some more on this fellow:

Space museum founder charged with theft
Ary sold off artifacts, prosecutors charge

The Associated Press
Updated: 9:02 p.m. ET April 7, 2005

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The co-founder of a museum housing a nationally recognized collection of space memorabilia stole dozens of artifacts, sold them and pocketed the profits, prosecutors alleged Thursday.

Max Ary was instrumental in transforming a small-town planetarium into the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, which he led for 27 years. A federal indictment filed in Wichita, Kan., claims he stole a number of the Hutchinson, Kan., museum's prized possessions and many items on loan from NASA.

The indictment charged Ary made around $180,000 by selling objects including the nose of a rocket, an astronaut's in-flight T-shirt, a control panel from Air Force One and an Apollo 12 water valve.

Cosmosphere president Jeff Ollenburger, who succeeded Ary in 2002, said only a third of the more than 100 missing items are noted in the indictment. Ollenburger said no value has been placed on the missing items.

Ary is charged with counts including wire fraud, mail fraud and theft of government property.

Ary's attorney Lee Thompson said his client "intends to defend his innocence against any charge that he harmed the Cosmosphere or the federal space program."

Under Ary's leadership, the Cosmosphere, about 200 miles southwest of Kansas City, grew from a two-person operation to a space museum with about 70 employees and 285,000 annual visitors.

Ary now lives in Oklahoma City, where he runs the Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum. A spokeswoman said Ary will take a leave of absence.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2006 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7424762/

" ... Ary now lives in Oklahoma City, where he runs the Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum. A spokeswoman said Ary will take a leave of absence. ..."

Man, I was just thinking while I was reading about this guy, "at least nothing like that is going on at the Kirkpatrick ..." Stupid me. Leave of absence, my azz - please dump the guy - there's some good stuff there!

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