Joseph Atsus, a 51-year-old Pennsylvania man, was sentenced on Tuesday to 48 months in prison, a term of supervised release, and $1 million in restitution for several charges related to his participation in a notorious museum theft ring, the Department of Justice announced earlier this week.
Atsus was part of a eight-person ring that stole millions in art and memorabilia between 1999 and 2019 from 20 museums, institutions, and stores across six states and Washington, D.C.
Among the most valuable pieces stolen were Andy Warhol’s silkscreen work Le Grande Passion (1984) and Jackson Pollock’s oil painting Springs Winter (1949) from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 2005. In addition, the group stole antique firearms, gold nuggets, and nine World Series rings, seven championship and other rings, and two MVP plaques, all belonging to New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra, from the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center located in Little Falls, New Jersey.
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Atsus is the sixth member of the ring to be sentenced. Co-conspirator Nicholas Dombek, 55, was sentenced last month to 108 months imprisonment, while Damien Boland, 50, is awaiting sentencing. Four others pled guilty and were sentenced last year, with sentences ranging from six months to 96 months imprisonment.
The whereabouts of many of the stolen works in unknown. In at least one case, Dombek burned a painting valued at $125,000 to avoid it being recovered as evidence and used in the case. The Berra rings, according to the prosecution, were melted down and sold for just $12,000.
While prosecutors were seeking eight years for Atsus, his ex-wife and mother pleaded for a more lenient sentence due to his 11-year-old autistic son’s high needs.
“They have [poured] their lives into [the son’s] care. It requires every bit of energy,” Oralia Iniguez, Atsus’s mother, told the court.
U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion was moved by the plea; he explicitly told Atsus that he reduced his sentence for the sake of his child. “I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for him,” the judge said, according to WVIA, a Scranton public media organization.
