Russ Pritchard III Pleads Guilty In 21 Counts
(Feb./March '02 issue) PHILADELPHIA, Pa

Ten months after a federal grand jury charged him with fraud, nationally known relic dealer Russ Pritchard III pleaded guilty Dec. 21 to a 21-count criminal indictment that detailed his repeated victimization of unsuspecting owners of Civil War artifacts.

The plea by Pritchard, 38, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., came even as his father and business partner, Russ Pritchard Jr., 61, was preparing to face trial for his part in one of the schemes. A jury found Pritchard Jr. guilty Jan. 18 (see related stories).
The guilty findings for the father and confession by the son, plus earlier guilty pleas by their partner, George Juno, 40, close a chapter in a long-running saga that has gripped the Civil War community for nearly four years.

The threesome, doing business as the American Ordnance Preservation Association (AOPA), gained prominence at the top of the Civil War militaria field as they procured millions of dollars in relics for Harrisburg's new National Civil War Museum, and two of them — Pritchard III and Juno — made regular appearances on the popular PBS television series "Antiques Roadshow."

Pritchard III's decision to forego a trial and plead guilty was seen as acknowledgment of the strength of the government's case — and an attempt to mitigate stiff penalties he could receive. In sentencing scheduled for April 26, Pritchard III faces a maximum of 135 years in prison and a fine of $5.25 million. Full restitution to his victims could also be ordered.

Pritchard III pleaded guilty to 14 counts of fraud, three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property, two counts of theft from a museum, one count of making a false statement, and one count of tampering with a witness. The charges were levied as a result of the following:

• In 1995-96, Pritchard III and AOPA "fraudulently" purchased from George Pickett V, great-great-grandson of Confederate Gen. George Pickett, his ancestor's kepi worn at Gettysburg, a bloody uniform sleeve, letters to his wife LaSalle and numerous other items, paying Pickett a false appraisal price of $87,500 and then promptly selling them to the City of Harrisburg for $880,000.

Pritchard III "falsely represented himself" to Pickett as a purchasing agent for the museum, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Goldman, and "falsely stated that he was not receiving a profit from the purchase."

Pritchard III also "borrowed" several unpublished Civil War photos from the Pickett collection but later returned copies of the images, keeping the originals.

• In July 1996 Pritchard III and Juno staged phony appraisals on two "Antiques Roadshow" programs, supplying friends with swords and providing them with fake stories about them, to which they pleaded guilty.

• In early 1997, descendants of Union Maj. Samuel Wilson who had watched the TV shows contacted AOPA for an appraisal of their ancestor's 1864 presentation sword. After offering a free appraisal, Pritchard III told the family the Harrisburg museum would put the sword on permanent display, bringing "national attention" to their ancestor. He appraised the general's sword for the family at $8,000. Juno then gave the sword to his father.

AOPA's first check to the Wilson family bounced. When the family continued to press for proof that the museum had purchased the sword, Juno told them the museum had decided not to buy it and AOPA had sold it to a collector for $10,000. Pritchard III pleaded guilty to signing a false bill of sale in that amount.

• In November 1998, in the course of depositions taken in a civil suit filed by Pickett against AOPA, Pritchard III lied when asked about the phony appraisals on Roadshow.

• In late 1998 or early 1999, after the FBI began investigating AOPA, Pritchard III wrote a letter to his friend involved in one of the "Roadshow" phony appraisals. He provided a story in order to convince investigators there was no wrongdoing on "Roadshow." In the letter, Pritchard III told the friend to regard $10,000 that Pritchard III had given him as a "gift" rather than a loan. This resulted in the "witness tampering" charge to which Pritchard III later plead guilty.

• In August 1997 Pritchard III contacted a descendant of Union Gen. George Meade asking to buy a presentation pistol given to Meade at a U.S. Sanitary Commission fair in 1864. Pritchard III "falsely represented himself" as the City of Harrisburg's purchasing agent and said he was buying the pistol for the museum, where it would be "reunited" with other Meade artifacts "and displayed in one exhibit for all time."

Pritchard III appraised the pistol at $180,000 to $200,000. On Oct. 7, 1997, he received it from the Meade descendant. On Oct. 14 he and Juno resold it to a private collector in Illinois for $385,000. Two days later Pritchard III paid the descendant $184,115. On Oct. 17 Pritchard III faxed the mayor of Harrisburg a letter saying the Meade descendant would not sell the pistol.

• In August and December 1996, Pritchard III, representing himself as an agent for the Harrisburg museum, conducted a free appraisal of artifacts belonging to Elaine Patterson and her late husband Don. He "falsely stated" that he wanted to buy specific items for the museum, where they would be shown as the Patterson Collection, "with the names of Patterson family members prominently displayed," his indictment charged and Pritchard III pleaded guilty to this charge.

Pritchard III then sold a group of Patterson artifacts to a private dealer, paying Mrs. Patterson $50,025 and selling the items for $65,000. Pritchard III also offered to Patterson to send away for conservation, free of charge, the frock coat of 1st Lt. William Hanger of the 1st Virginia Cavalry, which Don Patterson had bequeathed to a friend.

Pritchard III took the Hanger coat, along with another that he owned, to a textile expert and had the quatrefoils removed from the Hanger coat and sewn on the other coat. He then sold the coat with the stolen quatrefoils to a private dealer, and returned the Hanger coat to Patterson, "diminished in value."

In May 1997 Pritchard III received a second group of artifacts from Patterson for appraisal and possible acquisition by the museum. Among the items was a rare Confederate enlisted man's overcoat valued in excess of $20,000. In September Pritchard III advised Patterson that the coat was "was not authentic and had been disassembled." He then sold the coat to a private dealer in Georgia.

• In September 1996 William Day, a descendant of Lt. Col. William Hunt, provided his ancestor's uniform to Pritchard III's father and partner in AOPA, Pritchard Jr., to authenticate. Pritchard Jr. delivered the uniform to his son, and they had newly made gold stars placed on the collar. When Day called in January 1997 to inquire about the uniform, the two Pritchards "falsely advised" him that it was not authentic and had been given away to Goodwill Industries.

In April 1998 Pritchard III sold the Hunt uniform to a dealer in Georgia for $45,000. It was sold to another dealer for $51,500 and was sold again to the Tennessee State Museum for $67,500.

• In early 1995 AOPA acquired a Union sergeant's Zouave jacket as part of a collection, and shortly afterward sold the collection to the Harrisburg museum for $1.8 million. In March 1997 Pritchard III bought another Zouave jacket, but then learned from an expert that it was of Belgian origin and had negligible value.
Later that month, Pritchard III admitted in his guilty plea, he stole the Union Zouave jacket from the museum's inventory and replaced it with the Belgian jacket. In fall 1997 Pritchard III and Juno sold the stolen jacket to a private dealer for $20,000.

Pritchard Jr.'s sentencing date was set for a month after his son's, on May 24. Juno's sentencing had not been scheduled by presstime, but Goldman said it would probably be in April.