Hutchinson ? Investigators won’t discuss how many artifacts have been recovered for the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center following federal fraud and theft charges against the museum’s co-founder, but some missing items have been located. Four of them are at other museums.

Former Cosmosphere President Max Ary, 55, is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday in Wichita on an 11-count federal indictment from earlier this month that claims he stole and made profits on a number of artifacts, including ones on loan from NASA.

Investigators at the U.S. Attorney’s office and NASA have not revealed their recovery efforts, but, according to the indictment, investigators have located at least 14 of the missing artifacts. The court filing also details four auctions from October 1999 to May 2001 in which Ary allegedly sold 92 items and deposited about $180,000 into his personal account.

Three of the missing items are at the Omniplex Science Museum in Oklahoma City. Ary is on a leave of absence from his job there running the Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum.

Nancy Coggins, director of public relations for Omniplex, said portions of a NASA spacesuit on a loan agreement with the Cosmosphere remain on display.

Another NASA artifact on loan from the Cosmosphere is being exhibited at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Long Island, N.Y.

Three more artifacts were loaned to the creators of the movie “Apollo 13” and never returned. Officials with the film’s production company said the items would be hard to find given the 10 years that had passed since the movie’s release.

Cosmosphere officials have said more than 100 items were unaccounted for after Ary left the Hutchinson museum in September 2002 after 27 years of service.

Cosmosphere President Jeff Ollenburger said his museum was not involved in any efforts to find the missing items and nothing had been returned to the museum.

Ary’s attorney, Bill Price, has questioned the ownership of the artifacts missing from the Cosmosphere.

“He built that museum into what it is today,” Price told The Oklahoman earlier this month. “Part of the question is: Who owns these items?”

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 attorneys have maintained his innocence.