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Officials convict man of stealing Mesa Verde relics
January 19, 2008
Herald Staff Report
A construction worker has pleaded guilty to stealing archaeological relics while working at Mesa Verde National Park.
Robert Gee was convicted Jan. 8 of violating the U.S. Archeological Resource Protection Act by removing 252 artifacts from the park, according to a news release sent Friday afternoon by the National Park Service.
Durango Magistrate Judge David L. West sentenced him to pay a $2,000 fine, pay $1,000 in restitution to Mesa Verde and banned him from entering all national parks for three years. West also required Gee to write a letter to local newspaper editors explaining his crime, his sentence and how his actions caused irreparable harm to national parks.
The investigation began when Mesa Verde rangers were working on an unrelated case in early October 2007, the park service said.
A confidential informant told them that Gee, a contract employee working for Kirkland Construction doing a repaving project in the park, had been collecting artifacts near the construction site.
During an interview, the informant told rangers that he or she had seen a bread bag full of potsherds. The informant had also heard Gee talking about how he had taken the potsherds and an artifact described as a "grinding stone" out of the park. Based on that description, rangers believed Gee had taken a prehistoric mano and metate used to grind corn.
Based on the informant's testimony, the Durango magistrate's office issued a search warrant, which was carried out by Mesa Verde park rangers assisted by a Bureau of Land Management ranger, BLM special agent and the Cortez Police Department.
They recovered the 252 items, including potsherds, prehistoric stone tools, items related to stone-tool making, flakes, rocks and fossil specimens. Law enforcement officials also recovered a 50-pound mano and metate. Cortez police also seized illegal drug paraphernalia during the search.
During an interview, Gee said that he had taken the items from Mesa Verde over a month, the park service said. During his down time on the construction site, he said, he would walk through the woods and pick up items.
The day after the search warrant was executed, Gee met with park rangers and a park archaeologist and took them to the location where he had removed the metate. Park rangers said the area was within a known and previously s
kenb
January 19, 2008
Herald Staff Report
A construction worker has pleaded guilty to stealing archaeological relics while working at Mesa Verde National Park.
Robert Gee was convicted Jan. 8 of violating the U.S. Archeological Resource Protection Act by removing 252 artifacts from the park, according to a news release sent Friday afternoon by the National Park Service.
Durango Magistrate Judge David L. West sentenced him to pay a $2,000 fine, pay $1,000 in restitution to Mesa Verde and banned him from entering all national parks for three years. West also required Gee to write a letter to local newspaper editors explaining his crime, his sentence and how his actions caused irreparable harm to national parks.
The investigation began when Mesa Verde rangers were working on an unrelated case in early October 2007, the park service said.
A confidential informant told them that Gee, a contract employee working for Kirkland Construction doing a repaving project in the park, had been collecting artifacts near the construction site.
During an interview, the informant told rangers that he or she had seen a bread bag full of potsherds. The informant had also heard Gee talking about how he had taken the potsherds and an artifact described as a "grinding stone" out of the park. Based on that description, rangers believed Gee had taken a prehistoric mano and metate used to grind corn.
Based on the informant's testimony, the Durango magistrate's office issued a search warrant, which was carried out by Mesa Verde park rangers assisted by a Bureau of Land Management ranger, BLM special agent and the Cortez Police Department.
They recovered the 252 items, including potsherds, prehistoric stone tools, items related to stone-tool making, flakes, rocks and fossil specimens. Law enforcement officials also recovered a 50-pound mano and metate. Cortez police also seized illegal drug paraphernalia during the search.
During an interview, Gee said that he had taken the items from Mesa Verde over a month, the park service said. During his down time on the construction site, he said, he would walk through the woods and pick up items.
The day after the search warrant was executed, Gee met with park rangers and a park archaeologist and took them to the location where he had removed the metate. Park rangers said the area was within a known and previously s
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