WASHINGTON, DC (1/9/12) – After more than a decade, the FBI has found and returned a stolen flag that was actually carried in battles during the Civil War.
 
According to FBI officials, the flag, valued at $250,000, was originally stolen from a New Orleans museum a little over ten years ago. During the war, the flag was carried into several major battles, and inevitably captured in Gettysburg.
 
FBI Official Mollie Halpern informed news sources that information regarding the whereabouts of the flag was given to the FBI’s Art Crime Team in Miami Florida. Within a few hours, FBI agents tracked down the flag. It was in the possession of a Virginia resident who was not aware that the flag had been stolen when purchasing it. Halpern stated that the man had bought it from a former museum volunteer, who has been identified as the one who stole the flag.
 
Once agents found the location of the flag, they inspected it, compared it to photos taken before it was stolen, and then collected the item.
 
The flag will now be on display in the museum once more.
 
The FBI’s National Art Crime Team has recovered more than 2,600 items valued at more than $142 million since its beginning in 2005.
 
SurfKY News
Information provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation

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