The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Philadelphia Division announced recently that a number of relics stolen during the 1960s and 1970s have been recovered and returned to the respective museums.
The recovered artifacts included a silver concho belt and 14 firearms from the 1700s and 1800s, according to a Dec. 17 announcement on the FBI Philadelphia website. The recovery was the result of an investigation into the 1971 theft and 2018 sale of a 1775 rifle made by Pennsylvania master gunsmith Christian Oerter.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire said that it was an honor to give the artifacts back to the museums.
“The absence of the items from these museums represented not just a physical or financial loss, but a loss to every visitor, every student, and every researcher who didn’t get to see the items over the years and missed out on important pieces of our nation’s heritage," Maguire said in the announcement. "The absence of these items was, for so long, a loss to the historical record. The FBI is honored to have helped correct that loss and return these artifacts to the institutions from which they were stolen so long ago."
FBI Art Crime Team agents partnered with law enforcement officials including detectives from the Upper Merion Township (Pennsylvania) Police Department in the investigation. Thomas Gavin, of Pottstown, pleaded guilty in July to selling the Oerter rifle and admitted to stealing the artifacts, according to the announcement. Gavin, 78, was sentenced in November to "one day in prison, three years of supervised release with the first year to be served on home confinement, a $25,000 fine and was ordered to pay $23,385 in restitution by United States District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
The items were repatriated during a ceremony at the Museum of American Revolution in Philadelphia on Dec 17, the FBI Philadelphia announcement stated.
“It took more than 50 years but now these significant pieces of American history are going back to their home museums where they can be seen and enjoyed by all Americans,” Kevin Steele, Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) District Attorney, said at the ceremony. “It’s thanks to the tireless efforts of two Upper Merion Township Police detectives, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office that these firearms have been recovered and are now safe. I am so proud of their work.”
