[CPProt.net] Insider theft: Defense paints Ary as dreamer, not schemer

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

 Defense paints Ary as dreamer, not schemer
October 20, 2005
ROXANA HEGEMAN

Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. - The former head of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
who is facing charges of stealing and selling space artifacts is a dreamer
who turned the center into a nationally recognized museum, not the schemer
portrayed by the prosecution, a defense attorney said Wednesday.

In his opening statement Wednesday morning, defense attorney Lee Thompson
told jurors that Max Ary did not intend to cheat, steal or defraud anyone.
He was an idea man, not a detail man, Thompson said, adding Ary may have
made some mistakes and errors in judgment.

Opening arguments provided the first glimpse into the defense of Ary against
19 federal counts ranging from mail fraud to money laundering. He is accused
of making profits on a number of artifacts, including ones on loan from
NASA.

Thompson told jurors that what Ary accomplished in his 26 years at the
Cosmosphere cannot be ignored. He turned it from a small-town museum with a
budget of $40,000 into space center with a budget of $3.7 million, building
a treasure in Hutchinson that now includes exhibits such as the Apollo 13.

"This case is about whether Max Ary was loyal to that dream, but if after a
quarter of a century he turned traitor to that dream," Thompson said.

In his opening statement, U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren said the source of the
artifacts will be very important to the case. He told jurors the case
against Ary is not complicated.

"This case may involve space, but it's not rocket science," Melgren said.

Melgren told jurors they will see some things that went to the moon.
Thompson noted that astronauts would testify on Ary's behalf.

Ary, 55, left the Hutchinson museum in May 2002. He later took a job at the
Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum at Omniplex in Oklahoma City, where
he was replaced Monday as executive director.

Cosmosphere President Jeff Ollenburger - whom Ary groomed as his successor -
broke down and cried on the witness stand as he recounted his disbelief upon
discovering that Ary had sold museum artifacts and pocketed the money.

Among them was data recording tape from the Apollo 15 mission that was sold
at auction for $2,500 - money the Cosmosphere eventually traced to an
account Ary had with a California auction house.

"This was a really hard time, because of my relationship with Mr. Ary,"
Ollenburger testified. "There was nobody I respected more. He was a tutor
and a friend. I just couldn't believe it."

After discovering the Cosmosphere never authorized the sale of the
NASA-loaned tape and never received money for it, Ollenburger said he asked
his staff to start looking at other lots Ary had auctioned. He expected to
find maybe one museum item among the things that were auctioned; instead
they found dozens.

"I sensed the enormity of what we were dealing with," Ollenburger said. "It
was very difficult."

Melgren said the case will include a false insurance claim Ary submitted
that included a watch he falsely represented had been flown in space.
Melgren said a December 2003 search warrant of Ary's home in Oklahoma City
found several boxes containing space artifacts, many of which still had the
Cosmosphere's inventory tags attached to them.

But Thompson said the records do not in themselves prove ownership. Amid the
thousands of artifacts the museum handled, items sometimes got co-mingled
and forgotten, he said.

During his years at the Cosmosphere, Ary donated $40,000 to the center and
took salary concessions, Thompson said. When Ary left, he left many of his
personal space artifacts, the attorney said.

"To build a space center, Max brought more than his dream - he brought
artifacts," Thompson said.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of up to five years in federal prison
and a $250,000 fine on each of the wire fraud and mail fraud counts. He
faces a maximum penalty of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine on each count
of theft and each count of transportation of stolen property.

Two of the counts ask for the return of any property or proceeds Ary
received as a result of the alleged crimes.

Trial resumes Thursday with Ollenburger returning to the witness stand.

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