The Associated Press
Published 05/08/2003
EAGLE RIVER, Wis. - A former curator of the Wisconsin Historical Society's museum was sentenced to three years in prison for stealing a carving from an American Indian museum.
Investigators have not recovered the 12-inch bear clan carving, one of five in a set.
David L. Wooley will serve the sentence after he finishes a 15-year prison term imposed by a Dane County judge in 2001 after he was convicted of stealing Indian artifacts from the society's museum while curator there.
In the latest case, a Vilas County jury deliberated about 90 minutes Wednesday before reaching a guilty verdict. Judge James Mohr immediately imposed the sentence, which also includes five years of probation.
Wooley's attorney, Robert E. Hanson, had wanted his client to serve the two sentences concurrently because the 57-year-old is in poor health and unlikely to survive prison, he said.
Police looking for the items stolen from the state museum searched Wooley's Minocqua apartment in 2000. Officers took photographs of items, including the carving on Wooley's bedroom dresser.
Tribal police and museum officials reviewed those pictures and spotted the carving, which was stolen from the George W. Brown Jr. Ojibwe Museum and Cultural Center in Lac du Flambeau.
Wooley's attorney argued he may have borrowed the carving as director of the state museum.
Tribal Chairman Henry St. Germaine, though, testified Wooley did not have permission to remove museum pieces.
Information from: The Rhinelander Daily News
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