fyi from BLM Law Enforcement Weekly Report.
ANN MELLE
Assistant Director-Law Enforcement and Investigations
USDA - Forest Service
1621 N. Kent Street, Room 1015
Arlington, VA 22209
Office: 703-605-4527
Fax: 703-605-5112
Las Vegas, NV – Operation Indian Rocks-Sentencing – In December 2001, two
Las Vegas residents were discovered looting an archeological site in Death
Valley National Park. The suspects provided information that led to the
discovery of nine looted archaeological sites on BLM lands, one looted
archaeological site on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land, 20 sites that had
been surface collected on refuge land administered by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) and six small sites that had been surface
collected on land administered by the U.S. Air Force. Damage from the
looting and surface collecting was estimated at $750,000.
A joint taskforce, Operation Indian Rocks, was formed with agents from
the National Park Service, USFWS, and BLM. To date six search warrants and
two consent search have been executed and over 10,000 artifacts have been
confiscated. Five individuals have already pleaded guilty to a number of
felony ARPA violations. In August 2003, one person was sentenced to 18
months in prison and ordered to pay $86,000 in restitution. On December
15, 2003, a second individual was sentenced to 36 months in prison and
ordered to pay $102,364 in restitution. The remaining defendants are
scheduled for sentencing in January 2004. Contact: SAC, NV
Smoke (Michael A.) Pfeiffer, RPA
Ozark-St. Francis National Forests
605 West Main Street
Russellville, Arkansas 72801
(479) 968-2354 Ext. 233
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
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