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Friday, August 02, 2002

By David B. Caruso, The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- An antiques dealer who admitted staging a phony appraisal for the PBS series "Antiques Roadshow" was sentenced to six months' confinement yesterday.

George Juno, an expert in military artifacts, was charged with mail and wire fraud after he and a business partner gave a pair of Civil War swords to friends, then had them pose as amateur collectors during tapings of the show in Seattle and Denver in 1996.

The swords, which included an 1864 saber once owned by Union officer Maj. Samuel J. Wilson, were genuine, but the stories the friends told about discovering them in their attics were false.

In reality, prosecutors said Juno and a business partner had fraudulently obtained the 1864 sword from Wilson's descendants by telling them it was worth about $7,900. It later sold for $35,000. The sword has since been returned to the Wilson family.

Juno, who has worked as an appraiser for 35 years, was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine. The judge recommended that he be allowed to serve his sentence in a halfway house and continue work while serving his sentence.

"He apologized to his family and to the court," Juno's attorney, John Waldron, said. "We are very grateful that the judge did not prevent him from continuing to work as an appraiser. It is his life. He is one of the best in the world and has been working hard to rebuild his reputation."

When he pleaded guilty in May 2001, Juno said his actions were motivated by a desire for "notoriety and fame."

Prosecutors said Juno and business partner Russell Pritchard III staged the television appraisals to attract customers to their Bryn Mawr military artifacts business.

WGBH-TV of Boston, which produces "Antiques Roadshow," severed ties with Juno and Pritchard last year.

Prosecutors alleged that the staged segments were related to a broader scheme to defraud artifact owners.

According to prosecutors, Pritchard made between $800,000 and $1.5 million on a series of fraudulent deals. He pleaded guilty last month, was sentenced to a year in federal prison and ordered to pay $830,000 in restitution.