Former New Hampshire State Assistant Attorney General William McCallum, convicted last month of possessing works of art stolen from Dartmouth and other institutions, was sentenced to three to six years in prison yesterday.
McCallum was ordered to serve at least two years in a county jail and pay a $2,000 fine. After serving the two years, McCallum may ask for a reduced sentence if he helps the state return all the stolen property to its owners, a Rockingham Superior Court judge ruled.
McCallum admitted last month that he stole thousands of dollars worth of property, but pleaded not guilty to the 65 counts of theft by reason of insanity, claiming he had a compulsion to steal caused by mental illness.
Defense experts testified that McCallum suffers from bipolar disorder, severe depression and kleptomania -- a neurotic compulsion to steal.
"Set aside your stereotypes and accept the proposition that people who are brilliant, who are profoundly intelligent, can also be profoundly mentally ill," defense lawyer Stephen Jeffco told the jury of nine men and three women in January.
Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Simon Brown painted McCallum as a sane, calculating lawyer who planned his thefts and proudly showed off the stolen valuables.
Prosecutors argued that because McCallum stole valuable items and displayed them in his home and office without guilt, he was not a kleptomaniac.
Just two hours after hearing closing arguments on Jan. 20, the jury returned the guilty verdict.
About $200,000 in stolen items, including paintings, rugs, books and computer equipment were found in McCallum's home and office. The pieces were stolen from New England colleges, private preparatory schools, museums and libraries
Many of the stolen items were traced to Dartmouth, Yale University, Colby-Sawyer College, Boston College, Boston University, the St. Paul's School in Concord and the Ropes and Gray law firm in Boston.
About 120 items found during police searches have been returned, including the artwork stolen from Dartmouth's Carpenter Hall. The three prints of etchings by 18th century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi were valued at over $1,000.
Although McCallum has returned all of the pieces stolen from Dartmouth, other pieces have yet to be returned because McCallum destroyed evidence of the original ownership of many objects.
McCallum, a Yale graduate and former lawyer for the state in civil cases, apologized in court and agreed to cooperate in returning the stolen property.
Although Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney John Weld had asked for a five to 10 year prison sentence, he said he thought Judge Douglas Gray's decision was fair and he said he was pleased Gray included two things in the sentence at the request of prosecutors.
At Weld's request, Gray included two additional sentences -- one which will be suspended if McCallum cooperates with prosecutors attempts to return the items and another which will be suspended if McCallum does not try to profit from his crime.
"I do not believe you should be treated much different from anyone who is not a member of the bar and who was not an assistant attorney general," Gray said.
Both of McCallum's lawyers, Jeffco and Harry Starbranch, were unavailable for comment yesterday.
McCallum was arrested in July 1996 after a computer stolen from the Thayer School of Engineering in 1995 was discovered in his Londonderry home.
David Breed, a Lebanon resident, was helping McCallum's estranged wife Valerie Nevel move out of the couple's home last June when he noticed that the software on her Macintosh was registered to an unfamiliar name.
That revelation, coupled with Nevel's statements that her husband had acquired much of the art in their house "at a yard sale," was enough to prompt Breed to call Hanover Police.
"You just don't get that kind of stuff at yard sales," Breed previously told The Dartmouth.
While searching McCallum's residence, police uncovered items also believed to be stolen and obtained warrants to search the house thoroughly. It was then that the more than $200,000 in stolen items were discovered.
