A 56 year-old male employee of the Orleans Museum of Natural History located South of Paris has been handed a 3 month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to the theft of 666 stones and fossils dating back to the Neolithic era.

The employee sold the artefacts on Ebay for between 10 and 20 Euros each. The thefts were discovered after one of the purchasers started asking questions in order to verify the authenticity of their purchase.

Police discovered 364 stolen artefacts at the employee’s home and a further 100 were returned by buyers. The employee plead guilty and by way of mitigation explained to the court how desperate his financial situation had become. The museum asked for the court to award it 10,000 Euros compensation but was awarded only a symbolic amount of 1 Euro.