[MSN] Insider theft. Yakama Nation Museum. Former curator Marilyn Skahan-Malatare, 57, and her 29-year-old daughter pleaded guilty in federal court last month to stealing nearly $160, 000 worth of Indian artifacts from the museum.

[MSN]

Museum curator faces jail 
By PHIL FEROLITO 
Yakima Herald-Republic


It's not clear just how many artifacts may have been stolen from the Yakama
Nation Museum, nor whether they will ever be recovered.

Former curator Marilyn Skahan-Malatare, 57, and her 29-year-old daughter
pleaded guilty in federal court last month to stealing nearly $160,000 worth
of Indian artifacts from the museum over a six-month period ending in April
2007. A sentencing hearing is set for June 5 in U.S. District Court in
Spokane.

But the museum lacked a formal inventory of artifacts, so there is no way of
telling exactly what may have been taken, said U.S. Assistant Attorney
Thomas Hanlon in Yakima.

Included in the roughly 70 known artifacts taken were men's and women's
beaded bags, men's vests, a cradle cover and a rifle scabbard.

The mother and daughter were originally indicted in January on a total of 36
counts of theft and embezzlement, but in a March 7 agreement they pleaded
guilty to one count each of theft and embezzlement.

But Hanlon said reduced counts still cover the entire dollar amount involved
in the original indictment. For that reason, both face stiffer sentences, he
said.

Malatare faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Her daughter,
Colette Julia Malatare, who was accused of selling some of the items taken,
faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Although all of the items listed in the original indictment have been
recovered -- some at a Yakima pawn shop and others at Malatare's home --
it's not clear if more artifacts were taken because the museum lacked a
formal inventory, Hanlon said.

Malatare, who began at the museum in 1994, was in charge of developing an
inventory of artifacts, but an investigation didn't turn one up, he said.

"It's kind of like putting a fox in charge of the hen house," Hanlon said.

Since the incident, the Yakama Nation has been compiling an inventory of the
museum, he said.

Federal authorities concluded their investigation, and have no further
information to go on, said FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs in Seattle.

Federal authorities have jurisdiction in the case because the museum
receives federal funds and belongs to a federally recognized tribe.

Many of the items taken were from other tribes and may have been part of the
Nipo Strongheart collection. A 1920s movie actor and adopted member of the
Yakamas, Strongheart collected a consortium of artifacts from several
different tribes, said Yakama General Council Vice Chairwoman Mavis
Kindness.

His collection was valued at about $200,000 at the time of his death in
1966, when he willed it to the Nation. It was the collection that helped the
Yakamas secure federal funding to erect the museum in 1980. It also lacked a
formal inventory and much of it didn't make it into display, she said.

"I don't remember ever seeing a catalog of it," she said.

 

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 577-7749 or pferolito at yakimaherald.com.

http://www.yakima-herald.com/