SAN FRANCISCO, March 17: Criminal charges were filed against a collector who stole 165 Civil War documents from the National Archives and sold them on eBay, US prosecutors said on Friday.

Denning McTague was working as an unpaid intern in Philadelphia when he purloined historic paperwork that included a War Department letter informing troops of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, according to US Attorney’s Office spokesman Richard Manieri.

“Evidently he put documents in a backpack and walked out,” Manieri said. The bulk of the stolen letters concerned munitions and supplies, but one was written by Confederate general James (Jeb) Stuart, Manieri said.

McTague operated a company that advertised itself as a “Purveyor of: Rare and Unusual Books, Maps, Manuscripts, Interesting Paper and Americana” and sold the documents on Internet auction website eBay, according to prosecutors.—AFP