AP News, June 4th, 2007
A former museum president pleaded guilty Monday to skimming $1.5 million from the institution to buy a carriage house for his Cape Cod home, art, jewelry and even a root canal.
John S. Carter, 57, of Osterville, Mass., falsified invoices to get the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia to pay for it all, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and one count of tax evasion.
Prosecutors said Carter spent more than $335,000 in museum funds to build the carriage house and make other property improvements. He also used about $50,000 to buy a wooden eagle that once decorated an old riverboat and a 19th century tusk from a narwhal, an arctic whale, authorities said.
Carter's attorney, Mark Cedrone, called his client a "decent and honorable citizen."
"He wants to get this episode behind him," Cedrone said. "Why he engaged in this conduct is a little befuddling."
Carter was the museum's president for 17 years before he was fired last year. Museum officials say Carter's misuse of museum money dates to 1997.
Museum officials remain confounded over what led Carter to use the institution as his personal piggy bank.
"Obviously, his appetite was greater than his means," said Peter McCausland, chairman of the museum's board.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pease said prosecutors will argue at Carter's sentencing Sept. 4 that he should face between seven and nine years in prison. Pease noted Carter tried to get another $1.1 million when he forged the signatures of two museum board members to get a life insurance policy.
"Even though he never got the (insurance) money, it was still a crime," Pease said. "We're going to be fighting hard over that."
Cedrone said that his client did forge signatures, but that he was trying get something he actually could have gotten legally.
As part of the plea agreement, Carter also was ordered to pay restitution.
Meanwhile, the museum is trying to get back on course by bringing back donors and attempting to increase its endowment. McCausland said he hopes to hire a new president by the end of the summer.
"We're taking steps to right the ship, if you will," he said.
In a lawsuit filed against Carter in January, museum officials accused him of defrauding the institution of $2.4 million. That lawsuit is pending.
The museum is along the Delaware River waterfront. It owns the Spanish-American War cruiser USS Olympia and the World War II-era submarine USS Becuna, among other vessels.
