Over the course of several years a half-century ago, several valuable, historic weapons and other artifacts went missing from six regional museums, including one in Manheim Township and one in
A Pennsylvania man will spend exactly one day in jail after admitting to stealing historic artifacts from more than a dozen museums in at least four states. Montgomery County's.
Thomas Gavin, 78, of Pottstown, was sentenced Tuesday for the theft of a rare antique rifle during a visit to the Valley Forge State Park Museum in 1971. Gavin kept the Christian Oerter flintlock rifle, a relic of the American Revolution, in his barn in Pottstown for decades before selling it to a dealer who recognized its significance. Gavin will spend one day in prison and has been ordered to pay nearly $50,000 in fines and restitution. The rifle was returned to its owners and is now displayed at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
Thomas Gavin, from Pottstown, stole the rifle from the Valley Forge State Park Museum (left) In 1971 and kept it in his barn until he decided to sell it in 2018.
Man admits to 1971 theft of Revolutionary War-era rifle
The Johann Christian Oerter rifle, a Revolutionary War firearm stolen in 1971 from the visitor center at Valley Forge State Park in Pennsylvania, on display at the Museum of the American Revolution after its recovery, in Philadelphia, Nov. 1, 2019. On Tuesday, July 20, 2021, Thomas Gavin, the man who stole the rifle, pleaded guilty to one count of disposing of an object of cultural heritage stolen from a museum, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. (Rachel Wisniewski/The New York Times
by Maria Cramer
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- In October 1971, a rifle made during the Revolutionary War was stolen from a display case at the visitor center at Valley Forge State Park in Pennsylvania.