Man Pleads Guilty To Fenn/Yellowstone Digging; Faces 12 In Stir

MiddenMonster

MiddenMonster

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Dec 29, 2004
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They say he caused "more than $1,000 worth of damages". I'm not disputing that he caused damage, but $1,000 doesn't seem like much in the scheme of things. They could calculate that by sending a crew of 5 people out to fill in some holes and totaling their wages, fuel costs along with wear and tear on the vehicles and the time costs in filling out the paperwork plus creating the press release for their website. Now he faces 12 years in prison and $270,000 in fines. Sucks to be him...

Treasure Hunter Pleads Guilty To Digging In Yellowstone
 

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He was digging in the Fort Yellowstone Army Cemetery. 12 years in prison is excessive, but he needs to spend some time to think about what he did.

There are limits and boundaries to everything. He stepped WAY over that line.
 

The possible punishment does not fit the crime. Pay the "1000.00" fine, I'm sure he would refrain from a repeat, but 12 YEARS in jail? $270,000 fine?
 

Phil said:
He was digging in the Fort Yellowstone Army Cemetery. 12 years in prison is excessive, but he needs to spend some time to think about what he did.

There are limits and boundaries to everything. He stepped WAY over that line.
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Right on! Plus, this acts as example of punishment, for others to try the same thing - digging on Park property..., especially a CEMETERY...?! Disrespectful of the dead...!
 

Max penalty is 12 years, not that is what he will get. He knew it was against the law, there is no excuse, especially in a cemetery in a National park.
 

And Fenn said specifically it wasn't in a cemetery. Bad case of gold fever and greed. Sounds like he need psychiatric help, but pretty sure the courts will not go for that. In the old days a mob would have beat the tar out of him. Rightly so.
 

Don't know why, but sounds like he was looking for something else got caught and threw the Fenn story hoping to get off or just a warning to me.
The fine & jail time are just minimums & maximums for sentencing. Of course they're shooting for the max. Like when you see on the news some guy getting busted for burglary. And there's a boatload of other charges too. The cops charge him with everything under the sun so when the DA starts throwing out what he's not sure he can get a conviction on, they've got something left.

Another example. A buddy ran his van across a center divider & took out a anti siphon valve. The city sent him a bill for $1100 something. I went out with him & did the repair, (in those days) $3.00 in pvc fittings. Took before & after pics. City took him to court. Judge looked at the pics, looked at the bill, laughed & threw it out.
 

He was looking for something else. Part of the charges were excavation and trafficking of archeological resources. I would have to look at the reports, but I interpret this as to mean he was digging graves, and selling anything he found. 12 years? Yep! Maybe parole in 4-6. I have no love for, nor mercy upon, grave robbers.

Time for more coffee.
 

boogeyman said:
Don't know why, but sounds like he was looking for something else got caught and threw the Fenn story hoping to get off or just a warning to me.
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On the other hand, using the Fenn hunt or grave robbing are good stories to throw out if you were really burying a body there. What better place than a cemetery to bury a body you didn't want found. Especially a cemetery that is a protected monument.
 

eyemustdigtreasure said:
Right on! Plus, this acts as example of punishment, for others to try the same thing - digging on Park property..., especially a CEMETERY...?! Disrespectful of the dead...!
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Unless your an ARCHAEOLOGIST, then you can desecrate all you want with the blessing of our government (as if they have some say)!
 

galenrog said:
He was looking for something else. Part of the charges were excavation and trafficking of archeological resources. I would have to look at the reports, but I interpret this as to mean he was digging graves, and selling anything he found. 12 years? Yep! Maybe parole in 4-6. I have no love for, nor mercy upon, grave robbers.

Time for more coffee.
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If in fact that was what he was doing, then yes sir, I agree. Having said that, kind of makes a fella think about "Archaeologist" and what has been described as legal grave robbing under the name of science. I'm just saying....but again, if he was knowingly "robbing" graves?, then yep, I do agree with galenrog.
 

First of all, a guilty plea is almost always made in exchange for a lower than max sentence deal. Secondly, any decent lawyer will get a sentence "revisited" quietly after the newspapers report the original sentence. In the end, I doubt this guy will spend more than 30 days behind bars, if that. My prediction is a year of PBJ.

Is this the first use of the Fenn defense?
 

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Megalodon said:
Is this the first use of the Fenn defense?
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If so, I imagine it will also be the last use since the treasure was found. If someone is dumb enough to try it again they should get the max for being stupid. But that doesn't mean someone can't use the Dutchman's defense, the Lost Aztec Gold defense, the Oak Island defense, etc. This could open up a whole new avenue for slick attorneys, and we will be seeing commercials on late night TV.
 

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