New England Antiquities Research Association

 

10,000 Stolen Relics From American West Recovered

Reprinted from the Billings Gazette

 

 

 

December 12, 2003

 

More than 10,000 artifacts taken from historic sites throughout the West have been recovered as part of one of the largest archaeological cases ever investigated, authorities said.

 

The two-year investigation, dubbed Operation Indian Rocks, has led to a ring of relic hunters who were stealing remnants of the past, including arrowheads, ancient corncobs, hammer-stones and clay figurine fragments, the Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday.

 

The last major defendant in the case, Nevada resident Bobbie Wilkie, has pleaded guilty to two counts of excavation and removal of archaeological resources and aiding and abetting. His sentencing was scheduled for Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

 

His wife, Deanne, has pleaded guilty to similar charges and will be sentenced Jan. 12, federal officials said.

 

A third defendant, Frank Embrey, already has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $86,196 in restitution.

 

Court documents show the couple and Embrey conspired to "unlawfully excavate, remove, damage and otherwise alter and deface archaeological resources located on designated, federal public lands" from December 1997 to December 2001.

 

The group used probes, trowels, buckets, sifting screens, shovels and other tools to search for items on public lands controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and Nellis Air Force Base. A total of 13 sites were damaged, including some in Death Valley National Recreation Area, near Winnemucca Lake and a desert lake area in southern Nevada controlled by the Air Force.

 

The defendants displayed the items at their homes and sold some of them, according to the federal indictment. Authorities estimate the items taken had a commercial value of $21,600 and that restoration and repair of damaged sites would cost more than $100,000.

 

Historic sites on public lands are protected by the 1906 Antiquities Act and the 1979 Archaeological Resource Protection Act, which makes it illegal to destroy or excavate these areas.

 

Once an artifact has been removed or damaged much of its historical value is lost, said Peter Ossorio, an assistant U.S. attorney in New Mexico who has prosecuted relic cases.

 

"It's like somebody robbing a victim after the victim has already been mugged," Ossorio said. "Once these items are removed from the site you don't really ever get them back. Even if every single piece is returned much of the historical value is gone."

 

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