Free Republic

(1010 WINS) (HAMDEN, Conn.) Investigators working on last month's bombing at Yale University searched the home of a former library worker convicted of stealing rare books and documents from the school, the New Haven Register reported Friday. Benjamin Johnson pleaded guilty in 2001 to stealing rare books and papers and cutting out signatures from numerous manuscripts that he sold over the Internet. He was returned to jail Wednesday following a search of his parent's home by federal agents. Authorities would not say what they were looking for but the Register, citing a law enforcement source it did not identify, reported...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Fox News technician who was fired after he stole a dozen paintings from an Iraqi presidential palace has pleaded guilty to smuggling the treasures into the U.S. Benjamin James Johnson, 27, of Alexandria, could be sentenced to five years in federal prison for the single count, but his lawyer Christopher Amolsch said prosecutors have said they will not seek jail time. The paintings were taken from the palace of Uday Hussein, one of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's sons. Customs agents discovered the paintings, along with two chemical suits, a gas mask and some Iraqi monetary bonds,...

Journalists grilled over theft of Iraqi treasures Dominic Timms Friday April 25, 2003 The Guardian US officials have begun a detailed investigation into journalists and soldiers returning from Iraq - dubbed "Operation Iraqi Heritage" - after a Fox News employee was charged with smuggling a cache of Iraqi paintings and bonds out of the country. Benjamin Johnson, a satellite engineer for the Fox News Network, was stopped and searched at Dulles International Airport in Virginia yesterday. US custom officials found 12 Iraqi paintings and an undisclosed number of Iraqi bonds - in effect blank cheques that can be cashed with...

Smarmy Keith Olberman just smugly reported that the Fox reporter who brought Uday's painting to Washington, wanted to give one painting to FOX management

WASHINGTON, April 23 — A television news engineer faces smuggling charges after attempting to bring into the United States 12 stolen Iraqi paintings, monetary bonds and other items, federal officials said Wednesday. A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., charges that Benjamin James Johnson, 27, tried to bring the paintings into this country last Thursday. THEY WERE CONTAINED in a large cardboard box that was examined by Customs agents at Dulles International Airport outside Washington. An affidavit filed with the criminal complaint says that Johnson, who accompanied U.S. troops in Baghdad, gathered up the paintings at...

Fox News Engineer Charged With Smuggling CURT ANDERSON Associated Press WASHINGTON -A television news engineer faces smuggling charges after attempting to bring into the United States 12 stolen Iraqi paintings, monetary bonds and other items, federal officials said Wednesday.A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., charges that Benjamin James Johnson, 27, tried to bring the paintings into this country last Thursday. They were contained in a large cardboard box that was examined by Customs agents at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.An affidavit filed with the criminal complaint says that Johnson, who accompanied U.S. troops in Baghdad,...