These are artifacts that helped write our national story, with some even predating the country’s birth, and their long absence from public view - hidden away where no one could see or learn from them - was a loss both to society and the historic record. “We’re honored to help return these amazing artifacts to their rightful owners, from whom they were stolen so many decades ago. “Today’s repatriation has been a long time coming, with the FBI and our law enforcement partners working together toward this day for years,” said Maguire. Army War College Museum a French and Indian War-era powderhorn stolen from a Belchertown, Massachusetts, museum and a number of 18th century English and Scottish pistols stolen from the Valley Forge Historical Society Museum, all going back to their rightful owners today. Those included a Colt Whitneyville Walker revolver stolen from the Connecticut State Library an Omar Bradley presentation pistol stolen from the U.S. In August 2022, Corbett pleaded guilty to the possession of stolen items transported interstate, and, in accordance with his plea agreement, turned over to the government additional stolen firearms to which he had access. In December 2021, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania indicted Michael Corbett of Newark, Delaware, for possession of those firearms and other items stolen from museums in the 1970s.

Army War College Museum and 19th century Pennsylvania rifles, stolen from Pennsylvania museums. The artifacts returned to their owning institutions this morning included an 1847 Mississippi rifle stolen from a Mississippi museum a World War II battlefield pickup pistol belonging to General Omar Bradley, stolen from the U.S. Dozens of artifacts stolen during the 1970s have been recovered and returned to the owning institutions, announced Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division Jacqueline Romero, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Kevin Steele, Montgomery County (Pa.) District Attorney.Īt a ceremony held at Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution this morning, the FBI’s Art Crime Team and its law enforcement partners repatriated 50 items - the oldest dating back to the French and Indian War - belonging to 17 institutions located in five different states.

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