Ex-handyman at Arkansas museum guilty of stickpin theft

FORT SMITH, Ark. – A former handyman at a Fort Smith museum has pleaded guilty to stealing a small lizard-shaped gold pin that belonged to American Old West federal judge from an exhibit.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Mark Stevens pleaded guilty Wednesday. Stevens was sentenced to six years of probation and fined $2,500. He was also ordered to repay the $68.50 he received for selling the pin valued at between $1,900 and $2,500.

Police say Stevens was working at the Fort Smith Museum of History in March when he took the pin. Police found the piece at DBKJ Numismatics, where Stevens sold it.

The item originally belonged to Judge Isaac Parker, famously known as the “hanging judge” because he sentenced more than 160 people to death during his tenure in the late 1800s.

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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com