SCRANTON, P.A. – A Lackawanna County man has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for his role in a sprawling, years-long conspiracy that involved stealing and concealing millions of dollars’ worth of artwork, sports memorabilia, and historic artifacts from museums and institutions across several states, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Joseph Atsus, 51, of Covington Township, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 48 months in prison, a term of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,071,150 in restitution. A jury previously convicted Atsus of conspiracy, theft of major artwork, and concealment and disposal of stolen artwork following a nearly month-long trial.
Prosecutors said Atsus was part of an eight-person ring responsible for a string of high-value thefts spanning more than a decade. Among the stolen works and artifacts were Andy Warhol’s Le Grande Passion and a Jackson Pollock piece titled Springs Winter, both taken in 2005 from the Everhart Museum in Scranton; antique firearms from museums in New Jersey; Upper Hudson by Jasper Crospey, valued at $120,000; and nine World Series rings and two MVP plaques belonging to Yankees legend Yogi Berra, stolen in 2014 from the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey.
The conspiracy also involved thefts of Christy Mathewson memorabilia from Keystone College in Factoryville and golf trophies belonging to Art Wall Jr. from the Scranton Country Club. Authorities said the stolen items, including over $100,000 in gold nuggets from the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in New Jersey, were transported back to northeastern Pennsylvania, where the group melted valuable metals into bars or discs to disguise their origin before selling them for a fraction of their worth.
Federal investigators said one of Atsus’s co-conspirators, Nicholas Dombek, burned Crospey’s Upper Hudson to prevent it from being used as evidence. Dombek, 55, of Thornhurst, was convicted alongside Atsus and is awaiting sentencing. Another ringleader, Damien Boland, 50, also of Covington Township, was sentenced last month to 108 months in prison.
Three others—Thomas and Dawn Trotta of Dunmore, and Frank Tassiello of Taylor—were sentenced earlier this year, while Ralph Parry, 47, of Springbrook Township, received probation and home confinement.
The case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys James M. Buchanan and Jenny Roberts, was investigated by the FBI and more than a dozen federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
A Lackawanna County man received a four-year prison sentence for participating in a $1 million art and memorabilia theft ring spanning museums and institutions across multiple states.
