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From: Clopine, William W.
To: paleonet
Subject: Fossil collecting results in 2 year prison term ?
Date: 1996-02-27 12:15
Priority:
Message ID: 0C4839B4
Conversation ID: 0C4839B4
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This relates to a topic that saw a lot of discussion on Paleonet a while
back. I thought you might be interested in the outcome of the story that
set this all off. The newspaper article to which Mr. Moffitt refers also
follows (from another internet posting).
WWC
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Peter Larsen and the Final Score
by John R. Moffitt
for March 1996 issue of the Backbender
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Well, I've just read a newspaper article that reports Peter L. Larsen
surrendering to federal authorities in order to begin serving a two-year
prison sentence, on February 21st. This happened just last week as of
my writing these words, despite the fact that a number of appeals are
pending. On Jan. 31st earlier this year, Judge Richard Battey of U.S.
District Court sentenced Larsen to two years in prison, ordering him to
report to the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, on Feb. 22nd.
Larsen and the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research have been
in a great deal of trouble since 14 May 1992, when FBI agents,
National Guardsmen, police, and a number of other legal agencies "raided"
the company's workshop in Hill City, South Dakota. They seized a
Tyrannosaurus rex fossil that had been nicknamed "Sue" after the BHI
woman who made the original discovery in 1990, on a ranch near
Faith, Dakota. Sue was placed in "improper storage" at the South
Dakota School of Mines, where it still remains in large crates. This had
been the largest and most complete tyrannosaur skeleton found up until
this time. After this, there were several subsequent raids, as the Justice
Department seized records and other fossils.
I still remember in 1991 at Tucson, how proud Susan (Sue) Hendrickson and
the others were just after this important discovery. They were showing
stacks of photographs like they had a new grandchild.
Although initially charged with a large number of crimes (a grand jury
had originally indicted Larsen and four colleagues on 39 federal
charges, mostly having to do with selling fossils that were illegally
removed from federal land), the only fossil related charges that were
not dropped came from two of these other small fossils that were
confiscated in later raids. These were both misdemeanors. One was for
illegally taking a fossil worth less than $100 from federal land, and
the other for illegally retaining a small fossil.
Originally accused of illegally taking a fossil (Sue) from land under
federal
administration without a federal permit, the charges that Larsen was
finally convicted of had to do only with carrying currency between the
United States and two foreign countries. Larsen was convicted of failure
to report to American customs officials $31,700 in travelers checks
that he had brought from Japan, and the failure to report $15,000 in cash
that he took to Peru. Both of these are felonies. The objective of
prosecutors was to strike at unauthorized fossil collecting on federal land
and at an international trade in fossils that may involve millions of
dollars a year. This was not the objective of the laws that Larsen was
convicted of breaking.
Peter L. Larsen, has been a well respected commercial fossil dealer for
a number of years. I've always been impressed with the discoveries
and the quality of their fossil preparation work. His legal and financial
difficulties with the government are primary reasons why Houston's
Museum of Natural History has such a nice dinosaur display in their
new Hall of Paleontology. Dr. Robert Bakker, a paleontologist, former
faculty member of the University of Colorado, and a good friend of
Houston paleontologists, testified at Larsen's trial on his behalf,
describing Larsen as a responsible paleontologist. I know a lot of other
people that also know Peter, and I can't remember "criminal" ever
being used as an adjective to describe him.
Now with most the basic facts out of the way, I have some opinions on
all of this.
I have been watching in great detail, for several years now, the various
government and private activities surrounding the dinosaur fossil
called Sue. I have been so mad about various aspects of this so it's hard
to say that I'm actually any more angry after reading that news article.
Suffice to say that my anger remains unabated.
First, I would like to separate out any comments that I might make on
the various attempts to pass laws that restrict fossil collecting or the
ambiguous and confusing web of U.S. laws possibly applying to the
collection of fossils, because I have a great deal to say on that subject
and will write on that at another time. And I will try to avoid discussing
all of the injustice associated with a two year prison term for some
minor currency reporting violations while murderers get probation,
because I could fill a huge volume with that diatribe, and the news article
gets briefly into that. And let's briefly forget that a United States
Government agency with virtually infinite resources (spending my tax
money and yours) went after a responsible and above-board individual
with limited resources, with such an armada of legal morass that they
were destroyed financially within a few years (and that was with lots of
legal help offered for free). I've seen way too much of this abuse in the
last few years and am angry on too many levels.
Let's just try to look at the final score.
Now one of the best fossil collection and preparation groups in the
country and maybe in the world, has been financially destroyed and
turned into criminals. And this was after getting permission to look on
a rancher's land, finding something, getting further permission from
that same rancher to excavate and remove that fossil, paying the
rancher $5000 for those rights, offering to do all of the expenses and
preparation at their own cost, and then donating the fossil to a local
museum. I would speculate that this was far more responsible than
most fossil collecting done by local club members. This was also done
in the very open light of day. Numerous articles, interviews, and
television shows were done on this now famous fossil. A fossil excavation
could not be any less sneaky.
Of course some of those newspaper articles talked of the extreme value
of this fossil and how fossils of this historical value to the United
States might end up in the hands of Japanese collectors (world war II
vintage yellow peril stuff). Greedy people from the regional Indian
tribes who don't have a clue about fossil value and the fact that a three
million dollar fossil often requires over two million dollars to excavate
and prepare it, thought that this fossil should be theirs. The United
States attorney and the rancher, an indian named Maurice Williams,
also thought it should belong to them. Forget the fact that the time of
bone burial was far in advance of man's existence on this planet, much
less tribal or government boundaries.
Much time, money, and legal complexity later, a federal court ruled
that title to the dinosaur belonged to Williams in 1994. He apparently
will be permitted to dispose of it as he wishes, although it still remains
in storage at the South Dakota School of Mines. Williams does not have
to pay back the $5000 or pay for the roughly $100,000 of excavation
expenses and preparation work already done on the fossil. Of course
all of this is small potatoes when compared to Larsen's large legal
expenses and his upcoming two year stay at tax payer expense.
Just before the 1992 raids, the prepared Tyrannosaurus rex skull was
about to be sent to NASA in Houston where a complete set of Magnetic
Resonance Images were to have been made on cross-sections of the skull
every centimeter, in order to share this important paleontological
discovery with scientists world-wide. The United States government
never allowed this to happen, and scientists have now lost access
to this important fossil. Sue's bones had already begun to reveal her
rich and unique history as a living creature, an aggressive matriarch
with numerous healed injuries including a Tyrannosaurus rex tooth
embedded in a rib.
Oh yes, the fossil which was destined for a local museum and which
was going to be one of the most studied fossils by the academics and
scientists of the United States, can now be sold to one of those
Japanese collectors. I believe there is an indian named Williams
looking for a buyer.
And before I forget to mention it. This is a true story.
John R. Moffitt
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a science news article by MALCOLM W. BROWNE
copyright 1996 by the N.Y. Times News Service
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Peter L. Larsen, a commercial fossil dealer accused of dinosaur hunting
without a federal permit, left his South Dakota home Wednesday to surrender
to federal authorities and begin serving a two-year prison term.
Although the felony charges that Larsen had been convicted of had to do with
carrying currency between the United States and two foreign countries, the
object of prosecutors was to strike at unauthorized fossil collecting on
federal land and at an international trade in fossils that involves millions
of dollars a year.
Many academic paleontologists have denounced irresponsible fossil collecting
by commercial dealers on federal land. But others, including Dr. John Ostrom
of Yale University, have expressed uneasiness about what they regard as the
overly restrictive regulation of fossil hunting.
Some, including Dr. Robert Bakker, a paleontologist and former faculty
member
of the University of Colorado, testified at Larsen's trial on his behalf,
describing Larsen as a responsible paleontologist.
Patrick Duffy, Larsen's lawyer, described the sentence handed down by Judge
Richard Battey of U.S. District Court as "brutal." Duffy said Larsen's wife
and three children had been subjected to an "intolerable ordeal."
"We recently had a guy here in South Dakota who got off on probation, with
no prison time, after killing his wife in a drunken rage," Duffy said in an
interview. "Sentencing Pete Larsen to two years sends a message that the
American justice system is in deep trouble."
Larsen and his associates at the Black Hills Institute of Geological
Research
in South Dakota had been embroiled in legal problems since 1992, when
several
dozen FBI agents and National Guardsmen raided the company's workshop in
Hill
City, S.D.
They seized a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil dubbed "Sue," regarded by scientists
as the most complete tyrannosaur skeleton ever found. In that and in many
subsequent raids, the Justice Department seized the company's records and
many of its other fossils.
In 1990, Larsen's associates had found the tyrannosaur fossil on reservation
land owned by an Indian named Maurice Williams, who agreed to let the Black
Hills Institute excavate and keep it in exchange for $5,000.
But later, after Larsen and his colleagues began cleaning and restoring the
bones, the U.S. attorney charged that the fossil had been illegally taken
from land under federal administration. The dinosaur fossil was placed in
storage at the South Dakota School of Mines, where it remains in crates. In
1994 a federal court ruled that title to the dinosaur belonged to Williams.
He apparently will be permitted dispose of it as he wishes.
Experts say the tyrannosaur fossil could bring as much as $5 million,
particularly if it is sold in Japan.
A grand jury subsequently indicted Larsen and four colleagues on 39 charges
mostly related to trafficking in fossils illegally excavated from federal
land.
In the trials that followed most of the charges were dismissed, but Larsen
was convicted of two felonies - failure to report to American customs
officials $31,700 in travelers checks he had brought from Japan, and failure
to report $15,000 in cash he took to Peru. He was also convicted of two
misdemeanors: illegally taking a fossil worth less than $100 from federal
land, and illegally retaining another small fossil.
On Jan. 31, Battey sentenced Larsen to two years in prison, ordering him to
report to the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colo., on Feb. 22. Duffy
said
that several appeals were pending, but that Larsen would have to report to
the minimum-security prison.
Paleontologists are in broad agreement that the web of U.S. laws possibly
applying to the collection of fossils is ambiguous and confusing. In some
cases laws could be interpreted as banning field excursions by Boy Scouts as
well as collecting expeditions by dealers.
Rep. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., introduced a bill this month aimed at clarifying
the law. He said the measure "addresses the pressing problem of how to
balance the need to preserve the natural resource of fossils with the right
of the public to access federal lands."
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