posted May 14, 2005 05:37 PM               

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When the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center first reported artifacts missing from their collection in late 2003, the items were said to number more than 100. In fact, federal investigators searched for more than 400 pieces of space memorabilia after an internal audit failed to locate them, writes Chris Green in the May 13 issue of The Hutchinson News.

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posted June 15, 2005 01:41 AM               

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A U.S. District Court judge denied a motion Tuesday that would've required federal prosecutors to provide defense attorneys more specifics about the charges against former Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center director Max Ary.

Judge J. Thomas Marten said he thought the 19-count superseding grand jury indictment filed by prosecutors in May provided enough details for Ary to defend himself against charges he stole, sold and mishandled artifacts from the space museum he led for nearly 27 years.

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Thompson expressed concern during Tuesday's hearing that the indictment did not properly spell out which allegedly mishandled artifacts provide the basis for the federal charges against Ary.

That's important, Thompson said, because Ary needs to know if he's being charged for selling or possessing space artifacts that were gifts to him from astronauts or his own personal property.

To prove his point, Thompson provided the court a letter from astronaut Charlie Duke apparently saying that one of 10 Kansas flags he donated to the Cosmosphere - which had been flown to the lunar surface - should be given to Ary.

Ary is accused in the indictment of selling one of the Cosmosphere's flags in a May 2001 space auction.

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posted June 29, 2005 09:20 AM            

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Federal prosecutors in Wichita, Kansas are not commenting about a new loan agreement of space artifacts from the Kansas Cosmosphere to the Oklahoma City Omniplex... artifacts which the government says were illegally loaned by former Cosmosphere director Max Ary.

Omniplex spokeswoman Nancy Coggins confirms the three space artifacts are among those named and identified in the federal indictments against Ary who faces the charges in Wichita federal court.

"There are three artifacts that are listed in the indictments against Max Ary as illegally loaned artifacts to our museum as well as other artifacts illegally loaned to other museums," said Coggins in an interview with KTOK. She explained the artifacts have been on loan for nearly 20 years from the Cosmosphere based in Hutchinson, Kansas. And a new loan agreement was signed in recent days.

"We did. We sign it each June. We just recently signed the paperwork to renew our loan for all of our Cosmosphere loaned artifacts," added Coggins. "Each and every year we sign a loan agreement, a renewal with the Cosmosphere. So the items that they have listed in the indictment that were illegally loaned continue to be loaned to us every year."

The three items on loan to the Omniplex are a 'fecal containment system' used on the Apollo spacecraft. But the federal prosecutors are not answering questions about the legality of the new loan agreement and whether the new director of the Cosmosphere could also face charges for doing what Ary did in loaning the articles to other museums.

Contacted by KTOK, a spokeswoman for the U-S Attorney in Wichita, Kansas said she could not comment. A call to the Cosmophere has not been returned to KTOK News.

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posted September 21, 2005 09:22 PM               

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Former Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center director Max Ary filed a civil lawsuit Friday against the museum, seeking more than $300,000 in damages.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by Ary's attorney Lee Thompson, claims the Cosmosphere breached Ary's contract after his 2002 departure from the museum.

Furthermore, the suit claims, the museum is in possession of "space artifacts, and various personal property" belonging to Ary worth more than $300,000 now combined with the museum's collection.

Ary is under federal indictment for allegedly selling artifacts that belonged to the Cosmosphere.

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posted September 25, 2005 04:29 PM            

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On Monday, Max Ary, founder and former chief of the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center, will go to the federal courthouse in Wichita and ask that much of the criminal case against be him be thrown out.

In documents submitted to U.S. District Judge Thomas Marten, Ary claims that authorities illegally searched his home nearly two years ago and that prosecutors used private communications with his lawyer to compile their criminal case against him.

At Monday's hearing, Ary's lawyer will ask that all of the evidence gathered during that raid be thrown out.

The government, meanwhile, says it's prepared to defend the search and denies it violated Ary's attorney-client privilege.

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posted September 28, 2005 04:33 PM               

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A federal judge decided Tuesday to allow the use of evidence collected during a search of former Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center Director Max Ary's house.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Thomas Marten ruled Tuesday that the government's search of Ary's then-Oklahoma City home in December 2003 was legal.

Ary's attorney, Lee Thompson, had argued Monday that the search was improper and evidence collected during it should be thrown out.

Ary, 55, has pleaded innocent to 19 charges of stealing and selling artifacts housed at the Cosmosphere. He was the Cosmosphere's president for more than 26 years before leaving for an Oklahoma museum in 2002.

In denying a defense motion to suppress the evidence, Marten said that Ary had waived the privilege to keep seized documents he had prepared for his attorney out of the hands of the government.

Those documents, collected during the search, included a list describing various space artifacts Ary claims he owned and how he came to possess them.

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