AP News, April 20th, 2007
An exterminator was sentenced to prison Friday for stealing more than 2,000 exhibits including dolphin, leopard and bat skeletons in Australia's biggest museum theft.
Dutch-born Hendrikus van Leeuwen, 50, was sentenced in the New South Wales state District Court to seven years imprisonment for stealing the exhibits over seven years from his employer, Sydney's prestigious Australian Museum.
"Through his selfish actions, he has cost the Australian Museum not only a great deal of money, but damaged its reputation," Judge Peter Berman said in passing sentence.
Van Leeuwen, who hoarded the rarities including the skull of an extinct Tasmanian tiger at his Sydney home, had "caused permanent harm to the ability of scientists to study many aspects of the natural history of Australia and the rest of the world," the judge said.
Van Leeuwen began collecting bird and animal specimens, including roadkill, as a boy in Holland, the court was told.
But his interest became an obsession, costing him his job and, ultimately, his freedom.
Soon after he was hired in 1996, van Leeuwen began stealing specimens from Australia's oldest natural history collection.
His haul included skulls, skins and skeletons from animals such as the Ganges River dolphin, the clouded leopard and the rare Bulmer's fruit bat.
Van Leeuwen was fired in 2003 after police found more than 2,000 specimens at his home.
Renowned scientist and author Tim Flannery told the court it was "the largest theft of museum holdings every perpetrated in Australia."
Some items were irreparably damaged.
Berman rejected van Leeuwen's claim that he took the exhibits _ valued at more than $730,000 _ to protect them, finding he was "obsessed" with possessing them.
Van Leeuwen had pleaded guilty to stealing from his employer. He must serve five years before he is eligible for parole.
