Art Museum Con

A Manhattan judge yesterday sentenced a Whitney Museum of American Art employee to probation and community service for stealing more than $850,000 in ticket receipts. The prosecutors were furious - they urged the Supreme Court Justice to give her at least two to six years. The judge disagreed, He said five years probation and 200 hours of community service would be sufficient because the thief repaid most of the money. Ms Wahlah - the museum's manager of visitor services - and her underling Rowan Foley, 24 - voided ticket sales and pocketed the money for almost two years. The museum has 700 to 1,000 visitors a day and takes $20,000 a day in cash through ticket sales. Wahlah's theft was uncovered when Foley, of Queens, told museum officials that he suspected she was stealing money. Auditors then discovered that Foley, too, had stolen about $30,000. He pleaded guilty last year and got five years probation. Irish Art