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West Virginia Man Sentenced for Trying to Sell Paintings Claiming to Be From Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Heist

A West Virginia man who pleaded guilty to trying to sell paintings he didn't have access to and falsely claimed were stolen in the largest art heist in U.S. history has been sentenced.

Todd Andrew Desper was sentenced Tuesday to three years of supervised release, three months of which will be spent in home confinement. His attorney didn't immediately respond to an email.

Prosecutors say Desper solicited buyers on Craigslist for two paintings he claimed were among 13 stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. Authorities determined Desper had no access to the paintings.

Desper pleaded guilty to wire fraud in February.

The FBI has said two suspects who masqueraded as police officers to rob the museum of $500 million worth of masterpieces are dead.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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