GREENFIELD, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — A South Hadley man was sentenced on Tuesday to five to seven years in prison in relation to the 2023 theft of over $100,000 from two antique businesses in Deerfield and Northampton. 65 year-old Steven Skea pleaded guilty to two counts of breaking and entering, two counts of larceny within a building, and unlawful possession of a firearm. 

From the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office:

Man sentenced to state prison in connection with thefts from businesses

A South Hadley man was sentenced to 5-7 years in state prison Tuesday, after admitting he stole more than $100,000 in goods from antique businesses in Northampton and Deerfield in 2023.

In Hampshire Superior Court, Steven Skea, 65, pleaded guilty before Judge James M. Manitsas to two counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime; two counts of larceny in a building; and unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with thefts on August 20, 2023, in Northampton, and Oct. 28, 2023, in Deerfield.

Northwestern Assistant District Attorneys Joseph Webber and Alexa Pascucci and defense attorney Alfred Chamberland jointly recommended the sentence.  

Webber and Pascucci argued that Skea’s lengthy criminal history, as well as the severity and financial hardship he inflicted on the business and the danger he posed to the community by illegally possessing a firearm, warranted the 5-7 year in state prison sentence.

The investigation leading to Skea’s arrest was a collaborative effort. The Deerfield and Northampton Police Departments, along with the Northwestern District Anti-Crime Task Force and South Hadley Police Department, employed various investigative techniques to identify Skea as the perpetrator of these offenses.

In the August 2023, break-in at The Collector Galleries on Bridge Street in Northampton, Skea stole an estimated $100,000 worth of jewelry and other items. Two months later, the defendant broke into Whitney Hill Antiques on Greenfield Road in Deerfield and stole an estimated $30,000 to $50,000 worth of jewelry, rare coins, and other items.

Skea was cooperative with investigators when they searched his home, leading police to multiple locations within the home and garage and identifying numerous pieces of jewelry and coins that he had stolen from Whitney Hill Antiques and The Collector Galleries, as well as to an illegal semi-automatic pistol that Skea was unlicensed to own.