[Schottzie]

Wow, I just can't believe he is scamming this badly! He is clearly a collector and knows what he has. I wish he would come here and explain himself...

[ADMIN]

Well, I'm afraid to say it fellow community members, but this scam by germannpinkk / DevilDan1900 / Matt Boire / Matthew Boire doesn't get any better...

The following article is from the Museum Security Network Mailing list. You can find the article here and I will reproduce it here as well in case for one reason or another the link does not work
http://msn-list.te.verweg.com/2007-September/008017.html

Published August 29, 2007 06:52 pm - Matthew Boire returned to court
Wednesday to face five new charges in connection with Clinton County
Historical Association collection thefts.

Museum thefts bring more charges
By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG
Staff Writer


- PLATTSBURGH - After being arrested earlier this month, Matthew Boire told
police he was trying to sell a sword and scabbard from the Clinton County
Historical Association collection to help raise money for the museum.
The 25-year-old Plattsburgh man failed to mention he had already allegedly
taken an 1800s officer's saber, valued at more than $1,500, from the museum
and sold the antique weapon on eBay.
That's the same place where authorities previously found the missing museum
sword and scabbard posted for sale, which is what led to Boire's Aug. 13
arrest.
According to Plattsburgh City Court records, the new information has landed
Boire an additional felony charge of fourth-degree grand larceny in
connection with Plattsburgh City Police Department's ongoing investigation
into missing items at the Ohio Avenue museum.

NEW CHARGES
Besides the new grand-larceny charge, Boire is also now facing additional
charges of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property,
second-degree false sworn statement and fifth-degree criminal possession of
stolen property.
In total, Boire is facing three felony and two misdemeanor charges in
connection with the missing collections.
During the initial search of Boire's Oak Street residence earlier this
month, authorities allegedly recovered the sword that was posted online, a
second ceremonial sword and scabbard, an antique rifle and a Civil War-era
American flag.
Boire reportedly told authorities they were the only museum artifacts in his
possession. But during a subsequent search, authorities allegedly recovered
two additional missing weapons: a Starr single-action revolver and a Smith &
Wesson .32-caliber pistol.
Their discovery led to Boire's arrest on the false-sworn-statement charge.

MUSEUM INVENTORY
As the police investigation was continuing, Historical Association Board
Member and Treasurer Maurica Gilbert was asked to inventory the museum
collections.
Gilbert said she found at least four missing weapons: the Starr revolver,
Smith & Wesson pistol, a Harpers' Ferry pistol and a Sharps rifle.
According to court documentation, Gilbert also told authorities she found at
least four sabers or swords missing, including the officer's saber and Capt.
William B. Pratt's 1863 sword and scabbard, which was the sword authorities
previously found posted on eBay.
An antique weapons appraiser valued Pratt's unique bejewel-handled sword at
around $3,500.
The Harpers' Ferry pistol and a Masonic sword are still believed to be
missing.
In a previous statement to police, Boire said he took the items because
"there are internal problems with the museum where they are in debt for a
ridiculous amount of money.
"I wanted to raise money by selling some items that didn't have North
Country ties. Once I got the money, I would make a donation in either my
name or do it anonymously."
But, in a statement to authorities, Gilbert said: "As a board member of the
CCHA, I am aware that no one has or had permission to possess or sell the
above items (missing weapons) on behalf of the museum or for themselves."
Boire, who was a board member at the time, has declined to comment on the
charges since his initial arrest and is scheduled to reappear with his
attorney, Stephen Johnston, Sept. 19 to face the charges.

E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:
avanvalkenburg at pressrepublican.com


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the follow up following his plea on felony charges:
http://msn-list.te.verweg.com/2007-October/008445.html

Published October 26, 2007 02:02 pm -

Matthew Boire pleads guilty to reduced charges in thefts from Clinton County
Historical Association.

Boire admits to stealing museum pieces


By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG
Staff Writer


PLATTSBURGH - After admitting to taking items from the Clinton County
Historical Association, Matthew Boire said his actions have lifetime
consequences and excised him from the museum.

"I realize now that, regardless of my intentions, what a grave and
destructive mistake I have made," the former Historical Association board
member said Friday morning after pleading guilty to reduced charges.

When Plattsburgh City Judge Penelope Clute asked if he understood how deeply
his actions affected the association and its members, Boire said, "I'm very
apologetic for what I've done and for any embarrassment publicly that I have
caused the organization."


Standing beside his attorney, Stephen Johnston, Boire said he took full
responsibility for his actions. He pleaded guilty to petit larceny and
fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property in satisfaction of the
three felony and two misdemeanor charges he was originally facing.

The 25-year-old Plattsburgh native was first arrested in early August after
former board member Phil Gordon spotted the museum's 1863 bejewel-handled
sword and scabbard posted for sale on eBay.

After Gordon contacted the museum, Historical Association President Roger
Harwood filed a complaint with Plattsburgh City Police, and Boire was
arrested on a felony charge of third-degree criminal possession of stolen
property.

Authorities executed a search warrant at Boire's Oak Street residence and
located two ceremonial swords and scabbards, including the one posted
online; an antique rifle; and a Civil War-era American flag

In a statement to police, Boire said he took the items from the museum
intending to sell them and donate the proceeds to the association.

During his brief court appearance, Boire admitted that he did not have
permission to sell the items, including the 1800s officer's saber, which he
had already sold on eBay.

"I didn't give it (the money) to them," Boire quietly told the judge, who
acknowledged that Boire had already paid nearly $1,000 in restitution to the
Pennsylvania man who purchased the sword.

In late August, Boire was arrested for the online sale and for making a
false statement to authorities by saying the recovered items were the only
collections he took from the Ohio Avenue museum, though the subsequent
search uncovered the other items.

As the investigation was continuing, museum officials inventoried their
collections and realized a Harpers' Ferry pistol and Masonic sword also
appeared to be missing, and though neither resulted in criminal charges,
Boire recently returned the 1808 pistol.

It was unclear whether the Masonic sword is still missing.

"The items that he admitted to removing from us, stealing from us, have been
returned," Harwood said Friday.

"The Clinton County Historical Association has worked to the very best of
our ability to determine what items are missing, and the City Police
Department, I believe, has worked to their best ability, with other
agencies, to recover the stolen items."
Harwood said the organization has remained united through the last few
months, though the thefts caused members an enormous amount of tracking
work.

"We just need to move on from this," he said.

Boire is scheduled to return to court for sentencing Dec. 21. Under the
terms of the negotiated plea, he is expected to get three years probation,
community service and a $1,000 fine.


E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:

avanvalkenburg at pressrepublican.com

http://www.pressrepublican.com/

------------------------------

These articles can also be found here at the Press Republican:
http://www.pressrepublican.com/0503_museum..._241214523.html
http://www.pressrepublican.com/breakingnew..._014113830.html



Other places also reproducted the articles so just search on Google under "Matthew Boire."

[Gutkowski]

Here is the canteen pictures and auction link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Spanish-American-War-e...1QQcmdZViewItem

[attachment=52132:1.jpg]
[attachment=52133:2.jpg]

The canteen is not on E-bay now ?He is pulling all his items someone should call the police and see what else is missing from the museum

This post has been edited by Gutkowski: Feb 2 2008, 09:21 PM

[Gutkowski]

Here are some other items from him and where he works ......


(FORUM EDITOR'S NOTE: I appreciate your intent, but we have learned that there are two people in that area with this exact same name and one of them is a highly regarded civic and business leader so we have to be sure we don't confuse them.)

This post has been edited by Forum Support: Feb 2 2008, 09:37 PM

[Bank Vault]

This is just proof that we have to watch who we let into our collections. It is really sad but the way it is, plain out.

[Forum Support]

The canteen is not on E-bay now ?He is pulling all his items someone should call the police and see what else is missing from the museum

Yes he is hustling to cover his tracks but it's too late.

[Brig]

threats from some members of a group he's reported to eBay? How is reporting an entire community to eBay going to do anything? eBay makes a ton of money from its share of our purchases alone

[GLM *Deceased*]

Well, I thought I recognized a couple of those pieces. It appears the seller germannpinkk is USMF member DevilDan1900.

Here is the "SAW Era VFW Medal Fob to USMC Marine Officer - Named!!!" watch fob that germannpinkk purchased:
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...c=14712&hl=

And here is the "Military Troop B 1 Cross Sword Medal & Pin Free Ship" pin that germannpinkk purchased:
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...c=14783&hl=

I've forwarded him along to this thread. Hopefully he will see it in time to end the auction.

ADMIN -

What can I say. I just read the Announcement Board message and DD1900's banishment from our forum. I commend you on your excellent bit of detective work...and decision to rid us of this unbelievable form of lowlife.

It just goes to show that some of the members fears and paranoia, mine included, about the fakers lurking here and learning how to deceive completely were well founded.

Excellent work!!

s/f, Gary

[Forum Support]

It just goes to show that some of the members fears and paranoia, mine included, about the fakers lurking here and learning how to deceive completely were well founded.

Actually what busted him is that he did a half-baked job of faking it - guess we did not teach him well.

I just found this recent post of his on the forum:


I'm not that afraid of theft. I live in the middle of nowhere, in a middle of nowhere part of my state. My collection is housed in the inner recesses of my house, is only shown to my close personal friends, and on top of all that, I keep my M1917 Winchester 97 12 gauge trench gun two feet from my bed cool.gif By all means, someone break in, . . . I double dog dare ya.

[usmcaviator]

All I can say is, WOW! Like I said, he is desperate. He was probably trying to pay legal fees with his last bid of fraud. I never wanted to be the guy to burst his bubble about his "Dan Daly" cap, he was so proud of that fake thing. Anyone remember his claims about that cap?

Is ADMIN going to start doing yahoo searches on everyone's name? Bob, if you find anything on me, I swear there must be someone else by the same name who collects militaria and who is a Marine! It wasn't me.

Mike

[usmcaviator]

Andrea VanValkenburg (of the Press Republican) will have quite another story to tell, who wants to send her this link to the thread?

[Forum Support]

All I can say is, WOW! Like I said, he is desperate. He was probably trying to pay legal fees with his last bid of fraud. I never wanted to be the guy to burst his bubble about his "Dan Daly" cap, he was so proud of that fake thing. Anyone remember his claims about that cap?

Is ADMIN going to start doing yahoo searches on everyone's name? Bob, if you find anything on me, I swear there must be someone else by the same name who collects militaria and who is a Marine! It wasn't me.

Mike

Actually we do a google search for every new request for membership but that only keeps out the obvious freaks.

I don't want anyone on this forum to be shy about being a critic of any militaria posted here or elsewhere. When the criticism is about the things and not the collectors, it does the hobby a lot of good and helps weed out the fakers earlier in the game.

That "Daly" cap shows up here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...post&p=6689 - I labeled it as a fake tonight but any additional comments would be welcome there He first posted it here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...?showtopic=3011

In that same thread he has some of the old SAW campaign hats and I assume those are bogus. He just sold one on ebay for a lot of money and of course the listing said he knew nothing about militaria from that era.

We now have to go back through all 547 of his posts and start to edit or weed out the fake stuff - I'm already tired just thinking about it.

[Forum Support]

Andrea VanValkenburg (of the Press Republican) will have quite another story to tell, who wants to send her this link to the thread?

Earlier tonight I sent her, the museum director and ebay's fraud section a very long summary of what have learned as well as links to this thread. It had been a fun Saturday

[usmcaviator]

About his posts and items, I bit my tongue on nearly every one. It appeared that everything he had that was real, was messed with, or it was just outright fantasy. Sorry I never said anything. I had hit him pretty hard on another forum about using pictures from my E-bay auctions in his posts as his own. By hitting him again, I didn't want it to seem that I was picking on him, especially when he was so proud of his stuff. I just figured the guy really had no clue, but it turns out, he was making it all. He obviously has a problem.

I hate to keep jumping on a guy when he is down but I found this interesting. The first pic is of a suitcase DD1900 posted on his Dan Daly cap thread. The second is his canteen that was on E-bay as of today. Anyone recognize the similar stencils?

I wonder how long the shenanigans went on?

Mike

[TheRedBaron]

This is "DevilDan1900." A friend of mine set up an account so I could rebuttal this nonsense before it goes any further, as I have not been online in a while and just recently become aware of this article. What kind of a witch hunt are you people on in here anyway??? Without even asking me what had taken place, suddenly you're judge and jury?? First off, I would like to say that the ebay account is not in my name, nor is it even mine. It belongs to a girl I know who buys and sells items for me from time to time, as well as herself and others in the area. Hence the part on the auctions about her "not being a collector," as well as the name "Germanpink." I understand she has been treated very harshly via e-mail by some of the members on this forum during this debacle. The items in question were dropped off by me to her with the understanding that they were to be listed in the "reproductions" section, for use by reenactors, living historians, etc as I am a reenactor. While I was out of contact with her, and due to her inexperience, they were mistakenly listed in the "original" category, which is a very simple mistake anyone in here could make. To me and any other collectors, these pieces are obviously reproductions, nothing that was ever made or ever meant to pass as a real item. When she informed me as to what was happening and I eventually found the mistake, the auctions were immediately pulled and the bidders informed of what had happened. As for the skeleton in my closet that you have dredged up, that is my burden to bear. I made an exceptionally stupid and far reaching mistake last summer for which I am now humbly trying to repay to society. You may also note that every last piece from the museum in question was returned, by me, to it's rightful owners. That very regretable chapter of my life has, however, been resolved. I had never been in trouble with the law in my life prior to this instance. What you people have done to me in here tonight is unspeakable, it's like a mob mentality, each one feeding off the next, I mean, you contacted the newspaper??? I am a human being, do you have any idea what you have done to me over a simple mistake??? What you have likely done to my friend's ebay account??? I cannot even fathom how you people have literally made me a target for everything you despise about the collecting world, especially when this whole thing has snowballed basically over a wrong click of the mouse. No one was hurt here, but yet, you gentlemen have taken it upon yourselves to try to do God knows what. What you do on the internet effects real people, real lives besides your own. Why didn't anyone simply try to talk to me about this? All I can say is that I am at a loss, I know you are all very, very good people, but I don't know how you can justify this. This forum kept me occupied when I truly had nothing else of value in my life and for what it's worth, I am truly sorry for this unfortunate turn of events.

[Leatherneck72]

DevilDan,

Once again, it appears that you are trying to rationalize your mistakes because ONCE AGAIN, you got caught. You show a clear pattern of posting fake USMC items, (most all you posted is laughable to true USMC collectors) you scammed the museum (dude....you plead guilty....you couldn't help yourself around all the "cool" stuff) and then you tried to fence your humped up items through a friend. The only person who needs to make an apology is you for dragging someone else into your tangled web of deception. Don't be mad at the guys on the forum, all they did was bring it to light.

I never use the little face things but this deserves one.

[usmcaviator]

Wow, what a dance!

This guy was pulling another con, and he got caught. The story is convenient, and it makes no sense when you look at all of the evidence. I spoke (nicely) to the person on the other end of the "germannpinkk" E-bay handle. Whoever it was, spoke as if they acquired the hat. There was no "It's not mine. I'm selling it for a friend. I don't know. I will get back to you." The hat and other pieces were listed with full intent to defraud, until he got caught. This guy has become entangled in his own lies and can't keep them all straight.

"I was going to give the money to the museum" and "they were mistakenly listed in the original category" sounds like the same BS. His regret only stems from being caught. He needs to tell his sorry excuse to his probation officer.

[ADMIN]

Just for those who have been notified of this thread, the canteen for sale on ebay is also bogus and the user Matthew Boire was aware of that fact before listing it.

Here is additional information about that canteen:

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...mp;#entry101805

[Forum Support]

[teufelhunde.ret]

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