Pennsylvania man sentenced in art theft ring that hit museums across Northeast
Judge orders more than $1 million in restitution to museums after jury conviction tied to thefts dating back two decades.
Law and Crime
A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in a decades-long art and memorabilia theft ring that prosecutors said operated from 1999 through 2019 and targeted museums, historic sites and cultural institutions throughout the northeast, according to court records filed this week.
Joseph Atsus, 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 48 months in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork and multiple counts of theft and concealment of cultural property. He had been found not guilty on two additional concealment charges.
The sentence runs concurrently across four felony counts and includes three years of supervised release. He must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by February 6, 2026.
Atsus was also ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution, with $525,000 for the Yogi Berra Museum to be paid jointly and severally with co-defendant Thomas Trotta—meaning prosecutors can collect the full amount from any defendant until the victims are made whole.
The full court filing is available to paid subscribers.
Court Documents: Art Theft Sentencing in United States v. Atsus
Records released from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
Adam Schrader
The restitution order also includes: $26,000 for the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania; $230,000 to the Space Farms Zoo and Museum in Wantage, New Jersey; and $170,150 for the Ringwood Manor in New Jersey, court documents show. Those restitutions are to be paid jointly and severally with Trotta and a third co-defendant, Damien Boland.
Separately, Atsus was ordered to pay $120,000 on his own to the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in New Jersey. The court waived any interest fees for the restitutions after finding he lacked the ability to pay.
The conviction stems from a sweeping June 2023 federal indictment that accused Atsus and three other men of carrying out a string of thefts from museums and cultural institutions from 1999 through 2019.
Prosecutors said the group scouted museums in advance, studied security measures, broke display cases, and stole objects of cultural heritage that were later concealed, sold or destroyed.
Beyond those to which Atsus was ordered to pay restitution, prosecutors said the group targeted the Lackawanna County Historical Society, the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, the International Boxing Hall of Fame, the Roger Maris Museum and the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens.
The indictment lists dozens of objects alleged to have been stolen or targeted, including paintings, historic firearms, trophies, sports memorabilia and decorative arts. Among the named works were Andy Warhol’s La Grande Passion, stolen from the Everhart Museum in November 2005, and Jackson Pollock’s Springs Winter, which prosecutors said was taken in the same break-in.
Other items cited in the indictment include Jasper Cropsey’s painting Upper Hudson, multiple historic revolvers and pistols, a Tiffany Studios lamp dated 1903–1904, multiple World Series rings awarded to Yogi Berra, and championship trophies tied to golf, boxing, horse racing and baseball history.
Stolen items were transported across state lines and sold for cash, but many were never recovered. The Cropsey painting, taken in a 2011 theft from Ringwood Manor, was taken to Dombek’s home and later burned “to prevent law enforcement investigators from recovering the painting and using it as evidence.”
Court records identify the Warhol and Pollock works as stolen but do not indicate whether they were recovered, destroyed, or remain missing, and some records that could shed light remain sealed or restricted.
In several instances, the men stripped gemstones and valuable components from stolen objects or melted down metal items into bars, pucks or fragments to make them easier to transport and harder to trace. Those included trophies and silver objects stolen from the Scranton Country Club and World Series rings.
In 2023, federal prosecutors announced that nine people had been hit with charges and said at the time that all the other items remain missing. Pollock's work is listed in the FBI's National Stolen Art File of missing art.
Boland was sentenced in November to 108 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution while Dombek was convicted on some charges and acquitted on others. One defendant, Alfred Atsus, was acquitted on multiple counts.
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