WEST SENECA, NY (WKBW) -- The tale of a mysterious old hermit living along Cazenovia Creek during the early 1900's has turned into a real-life mystery.
The old hermit claimed to be the last survivor of the Jesse James Gang, and was armed with a Colt 1860, 40 caliber percussion revolver to prove it.
That revolver, which was on display in the West Seneca Historical Society, went missing in October of 2009.
Using phone records, detectives were able to discover phone calls made to the museum from an individual in Medina, NY, who turned out to have a lengthy record of antique thefts.
Upon further investigation, detectives discovered that the suspect had made calls to other historical societies as far away as Penn Yan, NY and as close as Cheektowaga. These societies had also reported stolen antiques.
The phone records led police to a pawn shop in Greece, NY, where the stolen revolver and other missing antiques were found and recovered.
After the information of the success in West Seneca, other police agencies were able to crack other museum burglaries in Warsaw and Caledonia, NY. Several other investigations are pending.
The suspect, 38-year-old Michael Ortiz was arrested on February 5 in Orleans County and remains in custody facing charges of grand larceny.
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