Archives Scandal -- McTague 10Yrs -- Berger ?

It's alright if you steal meaningless classified documents but don't you dare take some historical civil war items and sell them.

Where's Berger's penalty?

Here is McTague's story and he is facing hard time...

Intern Admits Thefts From U.S. Archives

McTague pleaded guilty to one federal count of stealing government property. He could receive up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced July 12, but federal sentencing guidelines call for much less.

Paul Brachfeld, inspector general for the National Archives, said the documents are invaluable and getting them back was not easy, especially since some had been sold overseas.

I would bet some of the documents Berger destroyed were invaluable.
ED:title

[edit on 2007/4/6 by JacKatMtn]

In this article more people go on to say how bad it is to steal these precious historical documents....
how we need to be American Sentinels .....

it looks to me if you steal from the Archives, the only way you will pay a price, is if someone notices the items up on eBay and says....

Hey Archives!!!, Looks like the original Declaration of Independence is going cheap, better get your security to round up that thief, no wait a minute, the auction ends in 5 minutes and it's going for $200, you might be able to win the bid at say $501, that would save thousands in manhours and investigation/evidence gathering/trial costs/etc......

eerrrrrgggghh!!!!!, Why don't they just throw the documents away like Sandy, I don't have time for this, the Masters is on this week..........

Anyway, it's Friday forgive me, here's the article:

Guilty plea in theft on historic scale

Brachfeld, who investigated the theft of terrorism-related documents by President Bill Clinton's national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, said his small staff watches over 37 facilities that have 3,000 employees and billions of records.

He was glad to get some help from Dean Thomas and his brother, Jim, in Gettysburg. Dean Thomas said his brother originally pointed him to the document that led him to call authorities.

"They are the real heroes. They are exactly what we are looking for: People who because of their knowledge of historic federal records can identify those that have gone into the public domain, that have been stolen," Brachfeld said. "Then we can prosecute those responsible. We need people to contact us, to be our American sentinels."