U.S. historical document thief sentenced to year in prison

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge sentenced a New York man who helped a presidential memorabilia collector steal thousands of rare documents to a year and a day in prison on Friday, prosecutors said.

Jason Savedoff, 25, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft charges for stealing documents that included copies of speeches by President Franklin Roosevelt and other presidential papers.

Savedoff was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake in Baltimore, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

According to Savedoff's plea agreement, he and co-defendant Barry Landau stole documents from museums in Maryland, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania from December 2010 to July 2011. They included the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, a unit of National Archives.

Blake also sentenced Savedoff to two years of supervised release once his prison term was over and to pay $16,125 in restitution.

Landau, 64, of New York, pleaded guilty in February to taking part in the conspiracy. Blake sentenced him in June to seven years in prison and to pay $46,525 in restitution to dealers who had unwittingly purchased stolen documents.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Eric Walsh)