Hutchinson ? The former head of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center who is accused of stealing artifacts from the museum at one point asked employees to remove items from safes to which he did not have access, according to recently unsealed court documents.

The documents were filed in late 2003 in a request to search Max Ary’s Oklahoma City-area home but remained under seal of the U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City until last week.

Ary, who served as director of the Hutchinson museum, is accused of 19 counts, ranging from mail fraud to money laundering. Ary has pleaded not guilty to the allegations that he illegally sold items belonging to the space museum for as much as $195,000.

The evidence in the case includes more than 50 artifacts with Cosmosphere identification numbers that were either seized from Ary’s home or turned over to authorities by his attorney.

Warrants to search Ary’s Oklahoma City-area home and a safe deposit box were sought by Michael Mataya, a special agent for the inspector general of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in December 2003.

Mataya’s affidavit contains details of allegations that were not disclosed in the federal indictment filed against Ary.

Lee Thompson, an attorney for Ary, told The Hutchinson News that the documents could support defense requests that a judge toss out some evidence.

“We’ve been trying to get that unsealed for quite some time,” Thompson said. “That will be used as a basis for motions to suppress evidence, I’m sure.”

Thompson previously has said that defense attorneys dispute the claim that missing items were actually stolen.

Mataya’s affidavit said that Jim Remar, now the Cosmosphere’s vice president of operations, told investigators that in May or June 2000, Ary asked that certain artifacts be removed from two Cosmosphere safes to which Ary did not have access. Remar told an investigator that Ary had Remar and another employee put items in the storage area to which Ary had full access.