Main Line House Cleaner Sentenced In Theft of Historic Franklin Bust
By Tony Hanson
BRYN MAWR, Pa. (CBS) -- A fired Main Line cleaning service employee was today sentenced to six years in prison for stealing an historic piece of art from a house in Bryn Mawr in August of last year (see previous story).
According to the prosecutor, defendant Andrea Lawton of Philadelphia was motivated by revenge: she wanted to hurt the reputation of the company that had fired her just a few days earlier.
The 224-year-old plaster bust of Benjamin Franklin was broken in half as Lawton traveled by bus with the object in a suitcase.
She was taking it to a possible buyer, weeks after the break-in and theft from a home she had serviced (see related story).
"Miss Lawton stole a rare bust of Benjamin Franklin," said Judge C. Darnell Jones during sentencing today. "While counsel has cited a number of quotations, my earliest recollection of my late father's quotation was, 'A penny saved is a penny earned.' And, I would add, not stolen."
The bust, of priceless historical significance, is valued at somewhere between three-quarters of a million and three million dollars.
The restoration, not yet completed, is estimated to cost more than $35,000.
A Philadelphia woman is sentenced for the theft of a rare Ben Franklin bust.