OPINION: Chris Kelly Opinion: After 23 years, Nebraska rustler cleared by hillbilly heist ring

Jun. 25—The home team claimed to be rounding third on the Christy Mathewson caper, running down the hustling visitor responsible and bringing home the memorabilia of the Hall of Fame pitcher and Factoryville native.

The FBI and state police named Scott A. Stutesman as the prime suspect. The Nebraska memorabilia dealer with a criminal history as a thief was in Lackawanna County at the time of the smash-and-grab theft from display cases at Keystone College in La Plume Twp. A Scranton man accused Stutesman of stealing from his collection of Roy Rogers ephemera on the same trip.

The city collector tipped the FBI and a search of Stutesman's home in Nebraska turned up several artifacts pinched from "The Singing Cowboy's" museum in California.

What did not turn up was the "Matty" merch — his 1906 New York Giants jersey, his contract to play for the Giants and another he signed as player-manager for the Cincinnati Reds. A proud Keystone alum, I took the theft personally. I was thrilled to write the story reporting Stutesman as the suspect.

It was published on March 23, 2000.

Nebraska authorities charged Stutesman with the thefts of four Roy Rogers artifacts. He was never charged with the Keystone robbery, which 23 years later the Feds say was part of a hillbilly heist ring that stole fine art and Americana across the country.

Along with the Matty merch, the nine-member ring is accused of stealing an Andy Warhol screen print and a purported Jackson Pollock painting from the Everhart Museum, Art Wall Jr. trophies from the Scranton Country Club and a host of other rare treasures, including art, antique guns and Yankees' legend Yogi Berra's World Series rings.

All nine conspirators have been charged with a raft of offenses. The alleged ringleader, Nicholas Dombek, 53, of Thornhurst Twp., is a fugitive but is unlikely to stay on the loose for long. Like Dombek's whereabouts, the locations of the treasures stolen from Keystone, the Everhart and Scranton Country Club remain a mystery.

On Wednesday, Sunday Times Staff Writer Joe Kohut — who broke this story and has owned it since — and I took a spin to the New Jersey home believed to be the last known location of the local loot. There was a doe in the driveway when we pulled up to the two-story home owned by brothers Alfred Atsus, 47, of Covington Twp., and Joseph Atsus, 48, of Roaring Brook Twp., both charged as part of the heist ring.

Neighbors were shocked to learn a criminal enterprise may have been operating on the tidy, tree-lined street in Union Twp., part of the North Jersey geography that grounded "The Sopranos." Like another neighbor who declined to be identified, Ruben Sergio-Alcivar, 31, said he assumed no one had lived in the house for a while.

"A man and a woman were there two or three weeks ago to cut the grass," he said, adding that for a time, a burglar alarm at the house would go off at all hours.

"No one responded, though," Sergio-Alcivar said. "No people. No police."

When we told Sergio-Alcivar the DUI arrest of alleged conspirator Thomas Trotta, 48, of Moscow, led to the exposure of the ring, he noted that traffic stops led to the arrest of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. A parking ticket tripped up "Son of Sam" killer David Berkowitz.

"It only takes one mistake," he said.

Or nine. Over my "varied" life and career, I've made the acquaintance of a handful of characters who once ran successful criminal enterprises. I count a handful as good friends. One said the key to keeping such a ring hidden is limiting the circle of conspirators.

"Nine people?" he said with a chuckle. "No way you're gonna keep that running for long."

"They may as well have been the Scranton School Board," I quipped.

"Exactly!" my friend roared. He may still be laughing.

It's easy to poke fun at a hillbilly heist ring, but they managed to keep it going for decades. Some perspective on how far back this yarn stretches: The Keystone and Everhart heists happened before 9/11, before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok and the widespread use of cellphones. Before the finales of "The Sopranos" and "Friends" and the premiere of "The Office."

Before the high school and college classes of 2023 were born.

That's a very long time, and a long way from the story I wrote about the FBI and state police naming Scott Stutesman the prime suspect in the Christy Mathewson caper. Searches of Nebraska criminal records databases and newspapers yielded no information on the disposition of the Roy Rogers charges, but I did manage to track Stutesman down.

He still lives in Nebraska, which I suppose is punishment enough. I left Stutesman detailed messages on his cellphone voicemail. He didn't call back. The Scranton collector who accused him passed away in 2007. He's not talking, either.

We still don't know what happened to the local treasures the hillbilly heist ring is accused of pinching, but the FBI may be closer to recovering them than they were 23 years ago.

The indictment suggests Thomas Trotta committed the smash-and-grab robbery at Keystone and was involved in the Everhart heist. If not for his DUI arrest, the hillbilly heist ring might never have been brought to justice.

And Ruben Sergio-Alcivar might never have heard about Christy Mathewson, whose memorabilia belongs in the town he called home.

CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, can't resist gnarled old yarns that finally come together. Read his award-winning blog at timestribuneblogs.com/kelly. Contact the writer: kellysworld@timesshamrock.com; @cjkink on Twitter; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.

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