Lynn man gets 20 years for Ohio Brinks job

LYNN – A Lynn man already indicted for stealing more than $2.5 million in precious jewelry, including New York Giants Super Bowl rings, will serve 20 years in an Ohio prison for masterminding a 2009 burglary of an armored warehouse in Columbus, Ohio, according to a U.S. Attorney release.After a six-day jury trial, a federal judge sentenced Stephen Murphy, 47, on Wednesday and ordered him, along with his two accomplices, to pay $1.3 million in restitution for the loads of cash and precious coins Murphy was found guilty of stealing from a Brinks facility, the release said.Read the government’s response to Murphy’s claims of innocence in the Ohio burglaryTwo other Lynn men, Joseph M. Morgan, 28, and Robert Doucette, 41, were also convicted and sentenced for aiding Murphy in the heist, according to the release.Federal prosecutors in Columbus said the three men drove from the North Shore to Columbus, where they staked out a Brinks facility until all employees had gone home for the evening. After dark, the men cut holes in the roof and dropped inside. They used a high-intensity torch to blow through a vault’s doors, which inadvertently lit much of the cash inside the vault on fire, according to the release.Prosecutors said the fire severely limited the amount of cash the men were able to take, but they did steal $2.3 million in cash and precious coins, including rare Susan B. Anthony, Sacagawea and Presidential one-dollar coins.Days after that burglary took place, Lynn, state and federal police arrested Murphy and a Saugus woman in connection with a June 2008 burglary of an Attleboro jewelry store, in which thieves took a safe containing more than $2.5 million of precious metals, gems and New York Giants 2008 Super Bowl rings.Officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the two heists were similar, as the thieves entered the Attleboro jewelry store by cutting a hole in the roof.Before his sentencing in Ohio, Murphy argued he only taught Morgan and Doucette how to heist cash from the armored warehouse, based on Murphy’s “Master Thief: How to Be a Professional Burglar,” manifesto, according to a sentencing memo from the United States Attorney’s office in Ohio.The Ohio judge declined that argument.Murphy’s co-defendants in the Ohio bust are already spending time in jail. Morgan and Doucette pleaded guilty in April 2011 to one count of conspiracy and one count of transporting stolen merchandise and money across state lines. Morgan was sentenced to 55 months in prison. Doucette was sentenced to 27 months in prison.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].