[CPProt.net] Insider theft: Former space museum chief convicted of theft (Ary led Kansas Cosmosphere for 27 years)

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Former space museum chief convicted of theft 
Ary led Kansas Cosmosphere for 27 years

The Associated Press
Updated: 11:06 a.m. ET Nov. 2, 2005


WICHITA, Kan. - The former head of a Kansas space museum was found guilty
Tuesday of stealing and selling spacesuit components and other artifacts
that belonged to the institution and NASA.

Max Ary, former president and chief executive of the Kansas Cosmosphere and
Space Center in Hutchinson, was convicted on 12 federal counts, including
theft and fraud. The most serious charges carry up to 10 years in prison. He
will be sentenced Jan. 19.

Ary, 55, was instrumental in transforming a small-town planetarium into the
nationally recognized museum, which he led for 27 years.

He was convicted of stealing data recording tape from the Apollo 15 mission,
an Air Force One control panel, spacesuit components, a lunar sample bag,
and personal items carried into space by astronauts. Those included a Kansas
flag given to the museum by astronaut Charles Duke Jr.

Ary acknowledged he sold artifacts that belonged to NASA and the Cosmosphere
but said they had been accidentally mingled with items in his own
collection, which he said was made up of items he obtained as gifts or
through trades.

"At no time while employed at the Cosmosphere did I ever intend to cheat or
do anything improper for the Cosmosphere," he told the jury.

Former astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, testified
on Ary's behalf, saying he gave space artifacts to the Cosmosphere because
of his trust in Ary.

"Max was the reason I even considered sending some artifacts to the
Cosmosphere," Cernan said.

Ary's attorney, Lee Thompson, would not comment about the verdict.

Ary left the Cosmosphere in 2002 to be executive director of the Kirkpatrick
Science and Air Space Museum at Omniplex in Oklahoma City. He was placed on
leave from that job after being indicted in April. His contract expired in
August.

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