LANDAU'S STOLEN DOCUMENTS RETURNING TO RIGHTFUL OWNERS

They left the Maryland Historical Society tucked inside the coat pockets and notebooks of Barry Landau and his assistant, but the historical documents returned in manila envelopes, neatly packed inside a gray cardboard file box.

Authorities continue to reunite more than 10,000 items "of cultural heritage" to museums and libraries along the East Coast that were targeted by Landau and his assistant Jason Savedoff. This month the Maryland Historical Society has received about one-third of 60 documents stolen.

It was there that employees first became suspicious of Landau, who was sentenced last June to seven years in federal prison for the theft of thousands of historical documents, and Savedoff, who received a one-year sentence.

"My library looked like a crime scene," recalled Patricia Dockman Anderson, director of publications and library services at the Maryland Historical Society. "I never thought it would be anything of that magnitude."

Almost two years after the two men were apprehended, investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Achieves and Records Administration are still trying to return to their rightful owners the items that had been collected as evidence.

About 20 percent of the documents have been returned, authorities said. Investigators hope to have the remaining items returned in coming months.

"All of the items have been associated with a victim; we just need to physically transport them to their homes," FBI Special Agent Matt Kazlauskas said in an email.

"It was a painstaking and very difficult process," for investigators, he said.

Among the items recently returned to the Maryland Historical Society on Monument Street were a 1920 Democratic National Convention ticket stub and admission passes to Andrew Johnson's impeachment. Each document was encased by clear Mylar, carefully placed inside the envelopes and categorized by four-digit penciled numbers by investigators.

In a folder marked number 2977 from Box 22 and dated 8/12/11 was a small, index card-size ticket that read "Admit the bearer May 26th 1868," to the gallery for Andrew Johnson's impeachment. But on the back was a new mark, Savedoff's small, penciled mark "W2," which stood for "Weasel 2." Landau referred to himself as "Weasel 1," according to court documents.

To read the complete article, see: Stolen documents return to the Maryland Historical Society (www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-historical-documents-returned-20130527,0,207038.story)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: BARRY LANDAU PLEADS GUILTY TO STEALING DOCUMENTS (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n07a21.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web