Ex-Cosmosphere leader to appear in court

Wichita — The former Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center director now accused of stealing and selling space artifacts from the museum will make his first court appearance April 27 in Wichita, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday.

Max Ary, 55, is facing an 11-count federal indictment that claims that between October 1999 and May 2001 he stole a number of the Hutchinson museum’s prized possessions — many on loan from NASA.

Ary is charged with two counts of wire fraud; three counts of mail fraud; two counts of theft of government property; three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property; and an 11th count in which prosecutors seek the forfeiture of any proceeds from the alleged crimes.

Ary’s attorney, Lee Thompson, has said his client planned to fight the charges.

Ary now lives in Oklahoma City, where he runs the Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum at Omniplex.