John Tillmann

rdf:langString John Tillmann

rdf:langString John Tillmann

rdf:langString John Tillmann

rdf:langString Canada

rdf:langString John Mark Tillmann

rdf:langString Tillmann in 2016 shortly after release from a Canadian minimum security prison

rdf:langString Stealing over 10,000 antiques and art objects

rdf:langString Art thief

rdf:langString John Mark Tillmann (24 February 1961 – 23 December 2018) was a Canadian art thief and white supremacist who for over two decades stole over 10,000 antiques and art objects from museums, galleries, archives and antique shops mainly in Atlantic Canada. Tillman had an extensive criminal record for obscene telephone calls, shoplifting, threats and assaults, but his antique thefts eluded authorities for years. He was eventually arrested with stolen property in January 2013, leading to a theft investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with assistance from Interpol, The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Seizing over 3,000 artifacts from his home in the first week, police finally closed the file nearly three years later when returning over 10,000 exhibits to their respective owners, which included a 250-year-old George Washington spy letter valued at about a million dollars. A few weeks following the sensational bust, police ran out of room within their own storage facilities to house the enormous amount of artifacts which were being uncovered. A special climate controlled and secretly located warehouse was then rented out by authorities to store Tillmann's looted artwork for the next three years.One of several private historical experts brought in by police to assist in the investigation remarked to the Toronto Star newspaper: ″It was incredible...to lay it all out would have taken an airplane hangar. It's an unbelievable collection of materials.″ The eclectic collection of items included a film prop suit of armour, a 7000-year-old Native American stone gouge, oil paintings and watercolors, tapestries, rare books, sculptures, rare documents and a trove of other ancient and old miscellaneous items. Tillmann was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Canadian Court on September 25, 2013, and the court seized over two million dollars of his assets under the proceeds of crime legislation. Tillmann was released on parole in November 2015, after serving just slightly over two years of his sentence.