The Supreme Court has confirmed the two-year prison sentence of a man who between 2013 and 2014 stole from the diocesan archive of Teruel the baptism and marriage certificates of several of his ancestors from the 18th and 19th centuries, with the aim of falsifying his genealogy and achieve his title as a knight of the Order of Malta.
In addition to the prison sentence for a crime against historical heritage, the Single Criminal Court of Teruel, in a ruling ratified by the Provincial Court and now by the Supreme Court, also imposed payment of compensation to the Historical Archive of 12,000 euros. for the mutilation of books.
According to the proven facts, between the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, the accused accessed the Diocesan Historical Archive of Teruel in order to obtain the baptism and marriage certificates of his ancestors registered in the “Quinque Libri” of Barrachina (Teruel). and in those of Villarejo de los Olmos (Teruel).
He did so with the intention of documenting his lineage and genealogy before the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, in which he had been interested in his promotion on that date as a Knight of Honor and Devotion.
To avoid being discovered in the irregularities noted by the prosecutor of the Order of Malta in the file initiated at his request, “he did not hesitate to tear from the books and make the corresponding pages disappear” to the baptism certificates of a great-great-grandfather, from 1839. , and a fourth grandfather, from 1798, as well as the marriage records of fourth grandparents (1835) and fifth grandparents (1775), which were documents against him.
At the end of May 2017, a person appeared at the Archive, commissioned by the Order of Malta, to verify the authenticity and veracity of the genealogy presented by the accused.
He realized that Book II of the Sacramental Items of the Parish of Barrachina (1693-1774) was missing, as well as the documents described, so he notified the director of the Archive, who reported the theft on August 10, 2017.
Two weeks later, the director appeared again before the Civil Guard to say that he had received a package from a parish in Madrid, which contained Book II and a note in which one could read: “Mr. Vicar, I am sending you this Book delivered by a person in confession”, having been proven that the material author of that delivery was the accused.
