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Artifact
thief pleads guilty to avoid trial David
Earl Word pleaded guilty Monday, one day before his trial was scheduled
to start, for the theft of pre-Columbian Peruvian pottery artifacts
from a basement storage room in the Mary Couts Burnett Library,
said Kelly Ham, TCU detective of criminal investigations. Word, a former Physical Plant employee, was arrested April 5, 2001 and was charged with a first-degree felony for the theft of the artifacts, Ham said. He has been in Tarrant County Jail since April 2001, Ham said. As the TCU Daily Skiff reported in 2001, the pottery artifacts were reported missing to the TCU Police Feb. 23, 2001. The artifacts dated back from 2,700 years. The artifacts were donated to TCU by the Moorehead Collection in three different donations in 1996 and 1997. A majority of the stolen artifacts were recovered and are now in the care and control of TCU, Ham said. Ham said there was an overwhelming amount of evidence linking Word to these thefts. As part of a plea bargain, Word was charged with a second-degree felony charge, put on probation for 10 years and ordered to pay restitution, said J.D. Granger, associate district attorney for Tarrant County District Attorney’s office. Word will pay $155 in restitution every month, $17,800 total, over the next 10 years, Granger said. The money TCU receives from restitution will go to cover the insurance deductible TCU had to pay, said Hao Brown, workers compensation coordinator. Brown would not say what the amount of the deductible is, but said that if restitution is more than the insurance deductible, the extra money will go straight to the insurance company. As part of his probation, Word is not allowed on the TCU campus for 10 years. Of the 132 artifacts stolen, 103 were returned with no damage, 23 were recovered with some damages and three were totally destroyed. Three other pieces worth a total worth of $32,550 still have not been recovered. Ham said Monday that he is pleased there was no trial and even more pleased that a majority of the pottery was recovered. Granger worked as an attorney on this case and said this is a very good outcome. Anthony
Kirchner |
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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