[CPProt.net] Attorney hunts down art thieves

[MusSecNetworkCulPropProtNet]

Attorney hunts down art thieves
By SARAH LARSON
The Intelligencer


OK, so the New Britain resident didn't dig up Cairo to keep the Ark of the
Covenant from the Nazis, and he doesn't carry a bullwhip coiled on his belt.

But while his FBI agent pals take care of that end, Goldman takes the
adventure one step further. The assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern
District doesn't just help recover stolen art and antiquities; he hauls the
thieves into court and prosecutes them.

"You're never going to stop it," Goldman said of the burgeoning
international trade in art theft. "But by bringing the prosecutions, and
getting the convictions, you do provide a deterrent to the other illegal
traders and alert the law-abiding dealer there are consequences."

Now, he will be able to prosecute such cases all over the country.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice named Goldman a special trial
attorney to the newly created national FBI Art Crime Team, formed to combat
international art trafficking and fraud.

Previously, he could only prosecute cases that had a connection to his
jurisdiction, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

"Before, I had to withdraw from the case and hope there's an attorney in
another office interested in taking the case on," he said. "Every office is
overworked, and I've always found the best way to handle a case is if
someone has a real interest in it."

Goldman started his career as a rising star in the Bucks County District
Attorney's Office. He later moved to federal prosecutions, joining the U.S.
Attorney's Office.

Now working mainly from the Allentown office, Goldman has spun his passion
for antiquities and history into a focus on art theft. He brought the first
prosecution in the nation under a federal law that made it a more serious
crime to steal art or antiquities from a museum.

His efforts propelled the Eastern District to lead the country in the number
of federal prosecutions under that 1994 law. During the past eight years, he
and FBI special agent Bob Wittman have recovered more than $100 million
worth of art and artifacts and have convicted more than 30 smugglers and
dealers.

"We thought it was important not just to get the items back, but to get
prosecutions and convictions to deter future heists," Goldman said.

Many of their cases are described in "Stealing History," the 2004 book by
journalist Roger Atwood on the global trade in ancient artifacts.

The international police agency Interpol ranks the black market in art and
antiquities as the fourth largest international crime after drugs, money
laundering and weapons.

Other countries, particularly France and Italy, are much better poised to
deal with major art theft, Goldman said. It wasn't until 1994 that the
United States passed the Theft of Major Artwork statute.

That law, Goldman said, made such heists more serious crimes. Previously,
they would have been prosecuted under state laws as burglary or theft, with
weaker penalties. State cases also had to be brought within five or so
years, whereas the federal law carried a 20-year statute of limitations.

"That gives us the ability to investigate these for quite a long time,"
Goldman said. "That's vital, because many times these items are so hot, they
go underground and don't resurface until years later."

Sarah Larson can be reached at (215) 957-8167 or slarson at phillyBurbs.com. 

http://www.phillyburbs.com/