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<< News >> Utah Sting Nets Two Dozen for Stealing Artifacts from Federal, Tribal Land

Submitted by bat400 on Tuesday, 20 April 2010  Page Views: 6238

Site WatchCountry: United States State: Utah
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To prosecute artifact looters on government and tribal lands in the Four Corners area, FBI and BLM officials started a two year investigation of dozens of "pot hunters" in the Blanding, Utah, area.
Five 'Guilty' pleas, and Three Suicides later, the Prosecutions continue, attracting international attention.

'The Informant,' an actual collector, wearing a wire, recorded hundreds of conversations where suspects not only offered prehistoric and post-contact era artifacts for sale, but also revealed how the objects were looted from protected federal and tribal land. The alleged discussions reveal a full knowledge that such collecting was illegal. Several suspects have previous records for looting, or were previously accused of taking artifacts from government lands.
On June 10, 2009, federal agents executed simultaneous predawn raids at more than a dozen residences, arresting two dozen individuals. The raids were carried out at gunpoint, as most householders had firearms of some kind, at least one suspect was previously arrested on drug charges, and another promised a shoot out if he were ever sought by police. But many of the suspects are respected members of the community, and the vast number of ancient sites in the area have obviously made many locals jaded about the illegality this kind of collecting. Utah legislators have asked for an investigation of Federal strong-arm tactics, but FBI and BLM offices immediately responded that both the investigation and raids were carried out without malice or partiality.
Two of the suspects have committed suicide, as has the informant himself. The town has reeled under the criminal charges and the national attention. Most recently, two of the individuals charged have changed their original court pleas to "guilty". While many still question the charges themselves and the conduct of the investigation, others are convinced that this type of legal pursuit is the only way to reduce looting the vast open areas of America.

Note: So far, all the accused in the 2009 Four Corner's Sting operations have received only probation at trial.

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"Utah Sting Nets Two Dozen for Stealing Artifacts from Federal, Tribal Land" | Login/Create an Account | 6 News and Comments
  
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Re: Utah Sting Nets Two Dozen for Stealing Artifacts from Federal, Tribal Land by Anonymous on Friday, 18 February 2022
NOTE: altering-reposting-dirivatives-rebranding; Of the contents of this post, will be considered intent to breach trust. from The Lacamas Morass
Resident #42LE561

Archaeology is the human condition. Humanities is the science behind it.
Sorry if it doesn't include the perfect world, but it's all we have.

When you reach the point in your study that leaders used force to control their tribes, you realize that power was the problem, not suffice. Again, sorry if this doesn't make ammends for your conditions, but we have to try.

The driving force behind this potentially hazardous study is human continence, the only obstacle being ones own judgements of oneself.
Here we decide whether we require more or less, and involvement is indicative of desire, which is proof of stability.

When needs become more important than desires, you will find conflict, and because modern life, does not provide necessities, there should be some conflict expected.

Because the field is so exciting and inviting, it is often chosen by youngsters to support their futures, at least a little bit. The final conclusion is ultimately discrimination is some form or another. If you didn't know this about the Humanities and Archaeology, I am again sorry for my abruptness on issues about arresting "theives" and "confiscating" ie. stealing, the things they have spent years collecting.

Our country is a huge country. And I believe the key to keeping the peace is giving the people back their private property.
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Blanding Utah artifacts trafficker gets probation by bat400 on Saturday, 23 July 2011
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The latest trial of one of the artifact looters in the Four Corner's sting operation of 2009 gets probation. Read the story at the Salt Lake Tribune website.
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Utah Looting Sting Case: 2 suspects in Utah artifacts case take plea deals by bat400 on Monday, 05 April 2010
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Two southern Utah residents pleaded guilty Monday to stealing government property and illegally trafficking in American Indian artifacts. Brent Bullock and Tammy Shumway were among 26 people indicted after a long-running federal sting targeting those who illegally dig up, sell and collect Indian artifacts in the Four Corners area. Both initially pleaded not guilty to several felony charges after the case broke last summer.

Each faces a maximum of 12 years in prison. Sentencing is set for July.
Bullock, 61, sold several ancient Indian items to an undercover operative in 2007, including a blanket fragment for $2,000 and a hoe-like tool for $500, according to court documents. He also offered to sell several ceramic figurines taken from U.S. Bureau of Land Management land.

Investigators said Bullock acknowledged to the informant that the items came from public land in Utah but filled out paperwork saying they were from private land in Colorado.

Shumway, who introduced Bullock to the informant, was charged because the 40-year-old woman aided and abetted the deals and signed a falsified paper about the items' origin as a witness, federal officials said.

In U.S. District Court on Monday, Bullock and Shumway acknowledged they knew the items had been illegally dug up from public land in Utah. As part of a plea deal, they each pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in stolen artifacts and theft of government property. Prosecutors agreed to seek a reduced sentence.

The cases are among the first to be resolved following one of the nation's largest investigations into artifact looting on public and tribal lands in the Southwest.

Trials for several other defendants are scheduled for this spring and summer.

For more, see Salt Lake City Channel 13 News.

Note: "The Informant", Ted Gardner, committed suicide earlier this year. These Guilty pleas are the first since Gardner's death. Other Defendants are Fighting the Charges On the grounds that the key witness cannot be cross examined.
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Utah Looting Sting Case: Artifacts suspect wants to change plea by bat400 on Monday, 09 November 2009
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A Blanding resident who previously pleaded not guilty to accusations of threatening to hurt a key witness in a sweeping illegal artifacts-trafficking investigation wants to change his plea.
Armstrong was to have appeared in court Oct. 16 on a motion to suppress confessions he allegedly gave to federal law enforcement officials and others in Blanding that he would tie an undercover operative to a tree and beat him with a baseball bat. The charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

For more, see the Salt Lake Tribune.
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Re: 'Anasazi sickness' by Aluta on Monday, 20 July 2009
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I'm always inclined to disbelieve this stuff and yet I must admit that when I visited a sacred site on private property without permission, I was attacked and stung 70 times by yellow jacket wasps. May be a coincidence, but I wouldn't try it again!
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'Anasazi sickness': Relic raiders do more than mess with history by bat400 on Sunday, 19 July 2009
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A shell necklace scoured from ancient ruins makes for a rare collector's item in the white man's world and fetches thousands of dollars for a grave robber.

A clay pot with pre-Columbian black-and-white zigzags is a coveted mantel ornament in Santa Fe or Salt Lake City.

Here in Four Corners Indian Country, though, the cultural riches that federal authorities allege 24 traffickers plundered and peddled from public lands are anything but souvenirs.

"We aren't supposed to be digging up anything like that," Navajo medicine man David Filfred says. "It's the people who lived before us, and how they lived. They had their traditions, which deserve respect."

And disrespect for either human remains or the ancients' belongings brings deadly bad medicine. According to tribal lore, it can lead to bad luck, ill health, even death. Filfred points to what many here on the Navajo Nation call the "Anasazi sickness" as a factor in the suicides of two men indicted last month on federal charges of...

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