Felon D’Ambrosio Sentenced For MTHS Thefts
Former Montana resident Brian D’Ambrosio was sentenced Monday, Dec. 16, to six months in federal prison and ordered to pay $22,508 in restitution for stealing materials from the Montana Historical Society.
In addition, he was fined $4,000. D’Ambrosio will be allowed to self-report to a federal penitentiary in Texas within the next few weeks, according to U.S. Attorney Ryan Weldon. Despite D’Ambrosio’s request for a sentence of five years’ probation, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris said jail time was warranted to reflect the seriousness of stealing irreplaceable documents from historical institutions and to provide deterrence for future artifact and document theft cases. He added that D’Ambrosio’s excuse that he stole the items during a difficult time in his life didn’t explain why his actions.
“I appreciate the personal struggles in your life but in my experience trauma in a life doesn’t equate … (to doing this) over and over again at a historical society.” Morris said. “When someone does something stupid it’s usually a one-time thing. But this happened over and over again; how does tragedy in your life translate to your actions at the historical society?”
Speaking so quietly that he couldn’t be heard in the courtroom, D’Ambrosio mumbled an answer to the judge, while about 20 members of the Montana Historical Society strained to hear his response. Court documents showed that while he was conducting book research between April 2022 and December 2022, D’Ambrosio took items including letters written by Nancy Russell, the wife of renowned Western artist Charlie Russell. The items were more than 100 years old with significant cultural heritage, and far exceeded $5,000 in value.
After stealing the items, he sold them for profit on eBay. A person familiar with the items tipped off authorities, and an FBI posed as a wouldbe purchaser confirmed D’Ambrosio was the seller.
D’Ambrosio said during that time, his mother died, and both a daughter and his father faced medical difficulties.
Tim Fox, president of the MTHS Board of Trustees, said he was satisfied with the prison sentence.
“Every item in our archives is a treasure of immeasurable value to our great state and its people,” Fox said. “D’Ambrosio’s egregious and outrageous crimes violate all sense of decency and trust. A hallmark of our society is that libraries, museums, and archives are open and accessible to the public. The defendant violated that trust, committing these crimes for personal gain, profit and prestige.”
D’Ambrosio initially was indicted by a grand jury in 2023 on 10 felony charges, including theft of major artwork, interstate transportation of stolen property, and seven counts of wire fraud. Under a plea agreement, he admitted to the theft of major artwork, and the other nine counts were dropped.
“This case tears at the very foundation upon which Montana was built,” Weldon wrote in a sentencing document, noting that a prison sentence in white collar crimes is meant to act as a deterrent. “The conduct here is especially troubling because the historical documents D’Ambrosio stole are best described as priceless. Restitution is certainly owed, but the reality is that money can never repay what has been lost.”
D’Ambrosio’s attorney, Colin Stephens, wrote in a sentencing memo that everyone involved in the case also were struggling to reconcile the actions taken by his client.
“The circumstances of the offense are those of a man in deep personal pain, who seemingly lashed out at one of the few places that used to provide him comfort,” Stephens wrote. “Now, because in the moment he could not find a healthy way to deal with his pain, Brian has lost his reputation, and he is barred access from the tranquility of the Historical Society, and the quiet peace it gave Brian, surrounded by the sense of the permanence of history.”
Some of the items were returned to the MTHS, but director Molly Kruckenberg said the damage from the theft will be ongoing.
