Antique U.S. Marshal’s badges stolen from museum exhibit in Muskogee

MUSKOGEE, Okla. – Three antique U.S. Marshal badges were taken from a Muskogee museum earlier this month, Muskogee police said.

"We have once again been hit by a thief," Three Rivers Museum, which is located at 220 Elgin, said in a social media post on Feb. 15. "The three Marshal badges out of our Lawmen exhibit, have been stolen."

Muskogee police said the badges were inside a display case which was removed from the wall and then left nearby.

Amanda Honeycutt is the museum's office assistant.

She noticed they were missing when she opened the museum in the morning.

"This case here had three U.S. Marshal Deputy badges in it," she said. "And I noticed it was not on the wall."

But, she found the open shadow box that contained them on the floor near the exhibit.Honeycutt said the badges have meaning beyond the museum."It's really sad. You have Muskogee history here," she said. "Somebody just wants to come and take it for their own personal gain instead of having other people being able to enjoy it also."

Lynn Hamlin, the public information officer for the Muskogee Police Department, said this could lead to someone falsely impersonating an officer, though she doesn't see that as a likely scenario.

"These badges are from the 1930s and they're very antique looking," Hamlin said. "So I suppose if you were to flash the badge very quickly or to someone who's not very familiar with what a police badge should look like, you could trick someone into thinking someone is a police officer."Honeycutt said this is not the first time an antique U.S. Marshal badge was stolen from the museum."A while back, we had a badge off of Bass Reeves taken," she said. "Luckily, a retired marshal donated his badge so we could put it back on our Bass Reeves statue."Honeycutt and Hamlin said the value of these U.S. Marshal badges is in their history and their connection to the community."The public and the community are going to want those items back in the museum as well," Hamlin said. "They have a stake in this too, and they'll be willing to help us if anyone has information."

Anyone with information about the badges, is asked to call the Investigations Division at 918-680-3132.

Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 918-682-2677 and remain anonymous.

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