The ousted director of Long Island University’s Hillwood Museum stole Egyptian artifacts from the collection and peddled the precious antiquities through Christie’s auction house, the feds charged yesterday.
Barry Stern, 61, of Oyster Bay, is due to surrender to the FBI today, authorities said. He is expected to admit to the theft, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Central Islip.
A university employee for 22 years, Stern is accused of stealing nine artifacts — all more than 2,000 years old — and delivering them to Christie’s in the month after his employment contract was terminated in August 2008.
The auction house’s records show eight of the pieces, including bronze and limestone statues, sold this year for a total of $51,500. The artifacts were sold at two antiquities auctions at Rockefeller Center on Dec. 9 and June 3.
Museum employees caught wind of the theft when Christie’s faxed them a purchase offer on the one remaining artifact in June of this year.
A review of auction catalogs showed the objects had been listed as “From the Collection of Barry Stern.” In descriptions of the artifacts, Christie’s reported that Stern inherited them from his parents.
In fact, the antiquities were part of a collection of 50 objects that were donated to the museum by a benefactor in 2002, under Stern’s watch, according to the complaint.
A search of the museum’s inventory showed the nine artifacts were missing and had been deleted from the computer databases in July 2008.
“According to museum personnel, as director of the museum, the defendant Barry Stern was one of the few individuals who had the ability to access and modify database entries on those dates,” the complaint states.
Unluckily for Stern, Christie’s had kept his old contact information and sent the purchase order to the museum’s fax number, instead of his home number.
“The alleged actions violate expected standards of academic honesty and the preservation of historical and cultural objects held in the public trust,” said LIU Provost Paul Forestell, who added that the university is cooperating with the investigation.
When FBI agents confronted Stern at him home in July, the ousted museum director initially insisted his parents had given him the artifacts.
Stern’s lawyer later told authorities he was willing to come clean, according to court papers.
Defense attorney Mark Baker said, “We knew it was coming to court, it’s finally here. We will deal with it accordingly.”