[MSN] Ex-museum head pleaded guilty to defrauding the Philadelphia museum he used to run was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia

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Ex-museum head sentenced to 15 years
By Hilary Russ
November 03, 2007

An Osterville man who pleaded guilty to defrauding the Philadelphia 
museum he used to run was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in 
U.S. District Court in Philadelphia yesterday.

John Carter, 57, of 74 Grand Island Drive in Oyster Harbors, was fined 
$30,000 and must pay full restitution of more than $1.3 million, 
according to Michael Finney, deputy clerk for U.S. District Judge R. 
Barclay Surrick.

Carter was not taken into custody but must report to begin his sentence 
on Dec. 17 to a location yet to be determined by the U.S. Bureau of 
Prisons, Finney said.

After serving his prison sentence, Carter will be on supervised release 
for three years.

On top of restitution and fees, Carter likely will be ordered to forfeit 
just over $1.5 million and a $338,000 interest in the sale of his 
Osterville home, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pease.

"We're pleased with the sentence," Pease said in a telephone interview 
with the Times. "We think it's fair and just under the circumstances."

Carter also has been sued in Barnstable Superior Court by the 
Independence Seaport Museum, the Philadelphia museum he used to head and 
was convicted of looting.

In the criminal case that wrapped up yesterday, Carter admitted he used 
false invoices and other schemes to buy luxury goods on the museum's 
dime. In one scheme, he faked paperwork, claiming he bought a set of 
artist sketchbooks for $55,000 for the museum when the sketchbooks never 
existed. Instead, he put the money toward construction of his guest 
house in Osterville, according to a victim impact statement by the museum.

Prosecutors claimed he continued his criminal ways even after he was 
fired as the museum's president — and after federal agents had hauled 
off a truck load of possessions from his Osterville home — by forging 
signatures in an attempt to cash out an insurance policy.

Prosecutors said, in asking for a 19-year sentence, that Carter lied 
earlier this year after pleading guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion 
about the true value of his assets.

In handing down the lengthy prison term, Surrick came much closer to 
prosecutors' requests for prison time than defense requests for 
leniency. Surrick reached his decision in part because of Carter's most 
recent lies, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

"This case is truly a tragedy," Surrick said, according to the Inquirer.

In more than 70 letters of support from friends, family and business 
associates, Carter was painted as a talented fundraiser and self-made 
leader with a passion for art and maritime history. Attempts to reach 
Carter and his relatives were unsuccessful, and his attorney did not 
respond to e-mail and phone messages.

In his own letter to Surrick, Carter said he was so demoralized by his 
own scheming that his health began to decline drastically.

Because of Carter's poor health — he said he has glaucoma, diabetes, 
coronary artery disease, hypertension, and suffered at least two heart 
attacks in recent years — Carter could serve out his sentence in a 
federal medical center, one of which is located 20 miles north of 
Worcester in Devens, Pease said.

In court documents, prosecutors said they weren't convinced of Carter's 
remorse.

"John Carter just doesn't get it. Despite all that has occurred in the 
last twelve months, he acts as if he did nothing wrong, and has not 
changed his attitude or conduct at all. All that he is sorry for is that 
he has been caught."

Hilary Russ can be reached at hruss at capecodonline.com.

http://www.capecodonline.com