Thief convicted of taking Star Wars items from Rancho Obi-Wan

Carl Cunningham has been convicted of taking items of rare memorabilia, including retired LEGO Star Wars sets, from Rancho Obi-Wan. Rancho Obi-Wan, the world's largest Star Wars collection and a registered charity, was rocked earlier this year when it transpired that a number of high value items had been stolen. Carl Cunningham has been convicted of taking the items from the museum, Jedi News reports:

Earlier today Carl Cunningham was convicted of a felony and subsequently sentenced to 12 months in the Sonoma County Jail that will begin on December 29th, 2017.

He was also given 3 years probation and ordered to pay over $185,000 in restitution for the crime involving thefts from Steve Sansweet and Rancho Obi-Wan.

Cunningham had been considered a friend of Steve Sansweet, the owner of Rancho Obi-Wan and former Lucasfilm Head of Fan Relations, and was in a position of trust. The missing LEGO Star Wars items include some of the rarest Ultimate Collector Series sets – 10129 Rebel Snowspeeder, 10179 Millennium Falcon, 10212 Imperial Shuttle and 10221 Super Star Destroyer. Rancho Obi-Wan is a not for profit organisation, housing the largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia in the world. The museum offers tours to schoolchildren and conducts other education activity as part of its stated aim to ‘Inspire through the Force’. Anyone who has information on the missing items, such as if any of the above samples have come up for sale in the California area, should contact tips@ranchobiwan.org.