The man who stole 100-year-old items, including letters by Nancy Russell, from the Montana Historical Society and sold them for profit on eBay was sentenced Dec. 16 to six-months in prison, to be followed by a year of supervised release and fined $4,000, according to U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich.

Brian Anthony D’Ambrosio, 50, of Sante Fe, N.M. pleaded guilty in July to theft of major artwork.

Among the items stolen were letters written by the wife of famed Western artist Charlie M. Russell, according to court documents.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided and also ordered $22,508 restitution.

D’Ambrosio was allowed to self-report to prison.

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“D’Ambrosio’s actions were intentional and calculated—designed to steal Montana’s cultural treasures so he could profit. The Montana Historical Society, and all Montanans, were victims of D’Ambrosio’s greed because these documents were deeply rooted in Montana history. Today, D’Ambrosio faced the consequences, and we hope this case serves as a deterrent to anyone considering similar criminal conduct,” Laslovich said in a release.

Prosecutors said that D’Ambrosio’s actions targeted artifacts that would reap large profits, including a document tied to Russell, and included a statement from the Montana Historical Society Staff about the scope of the damage D’Ambrosio caused:

“The items stolen by you (D’Ambrosio) from the collections belong to the people of Montana, not to you for your selfish, greedy purposes. Your actions forced us to implement stricter rules regarding access and use of historical documents, which impacts all future researchers…The emotional and financial impacts will be felt for generations.”

Prosecutors argued that D’Ambrosio, while claiming to conduct research at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, stole items from the archives from about April 2022 to September 2023. The stolen items included Nancy Russell’s letters that were more than 100 years old, of cultural heritage and exceeded $5,000 in value.

D’Ambrosio then sold and attempted to sell the stolen items for profit on eBay.

An undercover FBI agent posed as a would-be purchaser to confirm D’Ambrosio was the individual stealing the items from the Montana Historical Society and selling or attempting to sell the items on eBay for a profit, none of which was authorized, according to Laslovich’s office.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI Art Crime Team and Helena Police Department conducted the investigation.

D’Ambrosio said during the time he was stealing the items, his mother died, and both a daughter and his father faced medical difficulties, according to a MTHS release.

According to the MTHS release, Morris, the presiding judge, said during sentencing, “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. 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?”

Tim Fox, MTHS board president, said in a release that 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. 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,” Fox said in a release.

In sentencing memo, Colin Stephens, D’Ambrosio’s attorney, wrote that, “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. 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 stolen items were returned to MTHS, but Director Molly Kruckenberg said in a release that the damage is ongoing and that it will take time to restore staff’s trust to lessen the impact to future researchers.

“This damage goes beyond the walls of the Montana Historical Society’s Library and Archives; museums around
the country are asking themselves, again, how to balance access and trust when a trusted researcher becomes a common thief,” Kruckenberg said in a release. “Rest assured; we are working diligently to restore the trust Brian
D’Ambrosio selfishly took from us. But we will never forget what he did.”