[MSN] Stolen artifacts: California man took items from small museums

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Stolen artifacts: California man took items from small museums 
By CLAIR JOHNSON
Of The Gazette Staff 

When Virginia Heaton, of the Daniels County Museum and Pioneer Town in
Scobey, caught a man trying to pry decorations off one of the museum's
antique cars in the summer of 2003, she ordered him to drop the parts and
leave. 

As the man drove away, Heaton wrote down his license plate number and called
law enforcement. 

Heaton's report turned out to be the big break that ended a 35-year crime
spree by a California man who stole valuable artifacts from small regional
museums in Montana and around the country and then kept or sold them. 

  
Investigators identified the thief as Jeffry Stevens of Fallbrook, Calif. 

Stevens, 59, agreed to cooperate with law enforcement to help return
numerous stolen items to museums across the country. Officers were
interviewing him right up until last Nov. 9, when he died suddenly of a
heart attack. 

Officials from the Glasgow Police Department, the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management and other agencies publicly discussed the unusual case for the
first time Tuesday at BLM's State Office in Billings. 

On display were more than 30 museum items Stevens had stolen. They included
antique rifles and handguns, beaded moccasins and pipe bags and a Civil
War-era amputation kit. There also was an 1855 revolving rifle from Ohio
worth at least $10,000. 

Investigators said Stevens was intelligent, low-key and cunning. He didn't
write checks or use credit cards. The only high-tech gadget he used was a
cell phone. 

Montana BLM Special Agent in Charge Bart Fitzgerald called Stevens a "serial
thief''' who targeted small local museums because security was not as
sophisticated as at larger museums. 

Stevens' attorney, Chuck Watson of Bozeman, described Stevens as a leading
authority on weaponry who had a legitimate business trading artifacts that
included antique weapons and American Indian art and beadwork. "He was a
true scholar and had a real obsessive appreciation of the past,'' Watson
said. 

Stevens was lonely, reclusive and afflicted with a disorder known as
Asperger syndrome, Watson said. The illness manifested itself in Stevens as
an obsession with certain collectible items, Watson said, and "his
criminality was driven by mental illness.'' 

 

The Montana investigation began after Stevens stole items in June and July
2003 from museums in Big Timber, Lewistown, Glasgow, Malta and Circle.
Officers said Stevens also made a swing through Montana in 2000. 

BLM got involved because the agency is charged with protecting American
Indian artifacts. The BLM offered its help to the Glasgow Police Department.
The agencies also got help from the Rocky Mountain Information Network,
which is part of the federal justice system, and police in Salt Lake City. 

Stevens cooperated, but he had trouble remembering all of the thefts,
investigators said. Stevens told officers he began stealing museum artifacts
in 1969. Many of the items have not been matched to a museum, and some
artifacts have been returned to Stevens' estate. 

Glasgow Police Capt. Bruce Barstad said Stevens would walk into a museum
during regular business hours, sign the guest register using an alias, chat
with employees and take items "very cunningly." Stevens would hide the
artifacts in his pants or coat, he said. 

None of the people interviewed in the case knew that Stevens was stealing
museum artifacts, not even his wife, investigators said. 

The only time Stevens was caught on a surveillance videotape was at the
Valley County Pioneer Museum in Glasgow. 

Barstad said Stevens had tied rope to his leg and walked out after a few
minutes with a 5-foot rifle secured inside the rope in his pant leg and
hidden under his coat. Stevens broke into the rifle's display case by using
a screwdriver to remove screws and glass. 

Investigators used the videotape and license plate number to track Stevens
to Salt Lake City, where he had placed items on consignment with a store
called Sell Antiques. 

Salt Lake City Police Detective Suzanne Williams got a search warrant for
the business and spent about two weeks there. 

Williams said she found 1,890 items that Stevens had on consignment.
Everything was photographed, cataloged and locked in a vault at the
business. She estimated the value of the items at $1 million. Stevens also
had sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of items though the store
since 1996, she said. 

Law enforcement was able to return only about a dozen of the artifacts to
museums, Williams said. 

About this time, Stevens' attorney, Watson, contacted Fitzgerald of the BLM
in Montana. Stevens still had some of the stolen items and was willing to
return them and cooperate, Watson said. 

Stevens admitted stealing artifacts and guns from museums in Hardin,
Virginia City and Dillon. Investigators also conducted interviews and
searches in California. 

"We didn't go in and arrest him and throw him in jail,'' Fitzgerald said.
Investigators wanted to recover as many of the items as possible and needed
Stevens' help. "We got most of the Montana items,'' he said. 

Watson and law-enforcement officials negotiated a deal in which Stevens
would be charged with a felony theft in state court and one in federal
court. The government would not seek jail time but wanted a large fine and
contributions to the Montana museums. 

The fine became uncollectible when Stevens died. But Watson said Stevens'
estate will pay each of the nine Montana museums $5,000. 

Stevens sought Watson's help before he knew law enforcement was onto him,
Watson said. 

A pivotal event for Stevens came in 2002 when fire destroyed his home along
with a priceless collection of museum-quality items. 

"His behavior became so extreme,'' Watson said. "He knew what he was doing
was wrong.'' 


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