Another member of the Pennsylvania crime ring that stole millions of dollars worth of art and memorabilia over two decades has been sentenced. This week, 51-year-old Joseph Atsus of Covington Township, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of more than $1m. He was convicted last year on conspiracy charges, as well as theft and concealment or disposal of major artwork, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Between 1999 and 2019, the eight-man crime ring set its sights on mostly smaller museums in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and North Dakota. Objects stolen by the group from museums include an unauthenticated painting attributed to Jackson Pollock, Springs Water (1949), from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Upper Hudson by Jasper Francis Cropsey from Ringwood Manor in Ringwood, New Jersey, along with other valuable items like antique firearms, gold nuggets, dozens of golf and horse-racing trophies and Yogi Berra memorabilia.
The group would transport the stolen goods back to northeastern Pennsylvania. The group burned Cropsey's Upper Hudson—valued at around $125,000—to avoid the painting being recovered and used as evidence. The whereabouts of many of the other works of art are still unknown, according to investigators, though some of the stolen art may still be stored in a safe location. Several antique firearms stolen from museums in New Jersey have been recovered by authorities.
Atsus is the sixth member of the group to be sentenced. Another co-conspirator, Nicholas Dombek, has been convicted but is awaiting sentencing.