MANHATTAN (CN) - A historian faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing and selling letters written by Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, federal prosecutors said.
Edward J. Renehan Jr., 51, pleaded guilty Tuesday to interstate transportation of stolen property. Renehan, of Kingston, R.I., admitted he stole from the Theodore Roosevelt Association a letter Lincoln wrote on March 1, 1840, and letters that Washington wrote on Dec. 29, 1778, and Aug. 9, 1791. He sold them for $97,000 through a Manhattan gallery.
Renehan also could be fined as much as $250,000 at his Aug. 21 sentencing.
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