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SARATOGA SPRINGS — The five prized trophies went missing shortly before the midnight hour on a late Thursday night in September 2013 in Saratoga Springs.
A decade later, a narrative describing their forced exit, subsequent whereabouts and ultimate outcome has come to light in a 62-page indictment announced last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
The allegations charge nine Pennsylvania residents with conspiring to break into a dozen museums and institutions in multiple states – the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs among them – and stealing priceless works of art and sports memorabilia. The accusations claim the events transpired over a period of 20 years and included the transporting of stolen goods to Pennsylvania where some of the suspects melted the memorabilia down into discs and bars and sold the raw metals in the New York City area for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
The suspected “smash-and-grab” burglary in 2013 at the Union Avenue racing museum involved a man wearing dark clothing forcing their way into the museum. Among sounding alarms, triggering sensors and more than a dozen surveillance cameras, he vandalized two display cases and escaped through a separate exit with five trophies in a duffel bag, police described at the time. The entire ordeal took less than five minutes.
There were five trophies in all in the Saratoga heist - three gold and two silver collectively worth more than $400,000. They included a 1905 Saratoga Special Trophy, a 1903 Brighton Cup Trophy, a 1903 Belmont Stakes Trophy made by Tiffany & Co. featuring semi-precious stones, and a pair of steeplechase trophies – one crafted in gold in 1914, the other in silver in 1923.
According to the indictment, 53-year-old Nicholas Dombek, 47-year-old Damien Boland and a person identified as “Conspirator No. 1” made multiple visits to Saratoga Springs prior to the September 2013 incident to view objects on display at the racing museum and observe security measures in place.
Boland is accused of driving Conspirator No. 1 to the museum on Sept. 13, when the latter broke in, used tools to smash multiple display cases and remove the five trophies. The two are then alleged to have driven in Boland’s car to the Saratoga Casino Hotel parking lot where the trophies were transferred to Conspirator No. 1’s car.
The two are said to have later met up at a Denny’s Restaurant in Dickson City, Pennsylvania to inventory the trophies before proceeding to Boland’s bar, Collier’s Bar in Scranton, where they melted the trophies down into metal pieces. They subsequently transported those metal pieces to New York City where they were sold for approximately $150,000 to $160,000. Conspirator No. 1 later paid Nicholas Dombek $30,000 from the proceeds of the sale in exchange for Dombek’s help in planning the theft, according to the documents.
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs released a brief statement this week which thanked law enforcement for their efforts and said they are “pleased to learn arrests have been made in conjunction with the 2013 theft of priceless trophies from our institution.”
The nine people accused overall are all Pennsylvania residents. Their alleged actions at times mimicked a Hassidic disguise to case out a mineralogical and geological museum in Massachusetts, and saw them pose as prospective members of a Country Club to secure a scouting tour of clubhouse memorabilia and evaluate on-premise security measures. There are additional accusations of being draped in a fireman’s uniform and carrying an axe in order to not draw suspicion prior to smashing display cases, as well as selling some of the goods “to an individual named ‘King Joe’” in New York City.
Among the various objects claimed to have been taken from numerous locations: 9 World Series rings awarded to Yogi Berra between 1947 and 1962; 6 championship boxing belts; a 1961 MVP Trophy awarded to Roger Maris, an Andy Warhol artwork created in 1984 titled “Le Grande Passion,” and a work created in 1949 by Jackson Pollock titled “Springs Winter.” Additionally, the allegations document the thefts of antique firearms worth more than $1.3 million; an 1903/1904 Tiffany Lamp, $400,000 worth of gold nuggets and a variety of gems, minerals, jewelry, and other items taken from multiple stores in New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. The whereabouts of some of the paintings and stolen objects to this day remain unknown.
The accused: Nicholas Dombek, age 53, Damien Boland, age 47, Alfred Atsus, age 47, and Joseph Atsus, age 48 - indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment or disposal of objects of cultural heritage, and interstate transportation of stolen property. All four men were also charged with substantive counts of theft of major artwork and the concealment or disposal of objects of cultural heritage; Dombek was further charged with a substantive count of interstate transportation of stolen property.
Five other individuals were charged by felony informations for the same conspiracy. They are: Thomas Trotta, age 48, Frank Tassiello, age 50, Daryl Rinker, age 50, Dawn Trotta, age 51, and Ralph Parry, age 45. According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, the indictment and informations charge the nine with conspiring and other objects.
More than two dozen law enforcement agencies were involved in the lengthy investigation, including the FBI, New York State Police, and the Saratoga Springs Police Department.
The maximum penalty under federal law for the conspiracy count is five years imprisonment, and for each of the other offenses is 10 years imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
