[MSN] Federal authorities have asked that E. Forbes Smiley 3rd of Chilmark serve more than four years in prison and be fined at least $10, 000 for stealing a rare 1578 map.

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Sentencing Is Near in Map Theft Case 

By JAMES KINSELLA 

Federal authorities have asked that E. Forbes Smiley 3rd of Chilmark serve
more than four years in prison and be fined at least $10,000 for stealing a
rare 1578 map. 

U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor said that although the court should take Mr.
Smiley's cooperation into account when sentencing the felon next Wednesday,
the court should not depart from standard sentencing guidelines. 

Under those guidelines, Mr. Smiley, who admitted stealing 98 rare maps
between 1998 and 2005, can be sentenced to between 57 and 71 months in
prison, and fined between $10,000 and $100,000. 

In June, Mr. Smiley acknowledged that he stole a 1578 rare map titled
Vninersi Orbis, sevterreni glo, from Beinecke Library at Yale University in
June 2005. Under law, the theft of the map, a piece of cultural heritage
more than 100 years old and worth more than $5,000, is a federal felony. 

Mr. Smiley is scheduled to appear for sentencing on Wednesday before U.S.
District Judge Janet Arterton in federal court in New Haven. 

In asking Judge Arterton to stay within the guidelines, the government has
steered a middle ground between Mr. Smiley's attorney, Richard Reeve of New
Haven, who asked that the court impose a more lenient sentence of between 30
and 36 months, and the British Library's attorney, Robert Goldman of
Philadelphia, who requested that the court sentence Mr. Smiley to between 78
to 97 months in prison. 

In a sentencing memorandum filed with the court on Wednesday, Mr. O'Connor
said Mr. Smiley deserves punishment for his actions. 

"The government joins the victim institutions in condemning the defendant's
reprehensible conduct in the theft of 98 antique maps, six of which will
likely never be recovered and a number of the remaining maps altered from
their original condition," he wrote. "The government also calls for
punishment on behalf of the victim dealers who Smiley defrauded by selling
them stolen maps and who have suffered severe financial and institutional
harm." 

But Mr. O'Connor states that the court also should consider Mr. Smiley's
extensive cooperation with authorities. 

That cooperation, Mr. O'Connor states, includes substantial efforts made and
evidence provided to exculpate others, including victim dealers and
collectors; to identify as many as 80 maps that he stole that otherwise
would not have been recovered; to agree to make restitution to victim
dealers and collectors; and to turn over interests in real estate and
personal property for sale to make restitution. 

The government, however, said that cooperation, along with a number of other
grounds advanced by Mr. Reeve, was not enough to warrant a sentence more
lenient than the guidelines. 

Mr. Reeve, in his sentencing memorandum, called on the court to show
leniency toward Mr. Smiley. He cited Mr. Smiley's cooperation; his family
ties and responsibilities; his charitable activities; his medical condition;
and his mental and emotional conditions. 

Mr. Reeve wrote that Mr. Smiley, who was arrested in June 2005 after he was
caught stealing maps from the Beinecke Library at Yale University, could
have admitted only those thefts that could be proven and remain silent on
his other stealing. 

"He chose, instead, what was and is in some ways a far more difficult path,
one which has required him to face the full scope of what he has done, admit
it to the authorities and his family, and work very hard to assist in the
identification of all stolen maps and their recovery," Mr. Reeve wrote. 

"He made this decision for a number of reasons, but a principal one was
because he wanted to see as many maps as possible returned back to the
institutions to which they belonged," Mr. Reeve stated. 

Indeed, Mr. Reeve wrote, Mr. Smiley's cooperation identified far more stolen
maps than either the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which investigated his
crime, or the seven institutions from which he stole, were aware. 

"The government has conceded that, absent Mr. Smiley's admission, it lacked
proof of his theft of 80 of those 98 maps," he wrote. "Indeed, the FBI
investigation established that the relevant institutions were unaware that
40 of these 80 maps were even missing before Mr. Smiley admitted their
thefts, despite lengthy internal investigations by the institutions
themselves." 

In his memorandum, Mr. Reeve listed other mitigating factors, including: 

* Mr. Smiley's family ties and responsibilities. The felon, 50, is the
father of a six-year-old son. The length of sentence, Mr. Reeve wrote, would
have a great impact on a young man with a very close bond to his father. 

* Mr. Smiley's charitable efforts. Those efforts, Mr. Reeve said, including
supporting a pre-school in Chilmark; the restoration and reopening of the
post office in Sebec, Maine, where he has owned property; Covenant House,
which helps young runaways who arrive in New York city; and shelters and
soup kitchens in New York city. 

* Mr. Smiley's medical condition. He had quadruple bypass surgery at the age
of 43 and has four slipped discs in his lower back. 

* Mr. Smiley's mental and emotional conditions. Mr. Reeve declined to
identify these conditions in his memorandum, but said they partly help to
explain his actions. 

Both the Reeve and O'Connor memorandums take aim in general at the
contention of victim institutions that Mr. Smiley took more maps than
admitted, and in particular at the British Library memorandum, which argues
that Mr. Smiley should be punished more severely than the sentencing
guidelines. 

Mr. Reeve wrote: "Our hope and belief is that the court will sentence Mr.
Smiley on the basis of what he had in fact done, including his cooperation,
and not on the basis of what some speculate he might have done." 

Mr. O'Connor wrote: "Having now spent a considerable time with the
defendant, the government has found him to be open and diligent in his
efforts to recall his past thefts. The government's best assessment is that
he is making his best efforts to be truthful, but that at the margin there
may be a theft that he cannot recall and thus a map not returned." 

Giving weight to that observation, Mr. O'Connor wrote, are factors such as
admitting of many thefts that could not be pinned on him, and the severe
financial consequences of admitting those thefts. 

Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Reeve devoted large sections of their memoranda to
attacking the British Library sentencing recommendation. 

"The government is concerned that the library's analysis, as presently
presented, is legally flawed and, if followed, would created a risk of
reversal on any appeal by the defendant," Mr. O'Connor wrote. 

In particular, Mr. O'Connor said the library's argument for a more severe
sentence was based on earlier court rulings that overrode less stringent
sentencing guidelines then in effect. 

In his memorandum, Mr. Reeve writes, "The British Library sentencing
memorandum is replete with factual and legal errors, and in many instances
presents highly misleading arguments." 

Mr. Reeve also writes, "The British Library's rhetoric neglects an important
and fundamental truth: the Apian World Map will soon be back in its
collection." 

Quoting but contradicting the library's argument, Mr. Reeve writes, "All
'students, scholars, academics, the general public and individuals yet to be
born' then will be able to utilize the map." 



Originally published in The Vineyard Gazette
edition of Friday, September 22, 2006