Tuesday, September 22, 2009

MORE ON STOLEN INDIAN ARTIFACTS

The government is trying to decide what to do with all the Indian artifacts--more than seven truckloads--that officials have confiscated during their three-year investigation of artifact looting in the Southwest. Jeanne Redd, who pleaded guilty to stealing one batch of the artifacts, has been sentenced to three years in jail. Her daughter, Jerrica, got two years. Their collection of more than 800 objects was confiscated.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Salt Lake Tribune said they got probation only. Neither got jail time.

Anonymous said...

Yes, they got probation only. Judge said they were no threat to anyone. Husband and father also charged committed suicide.

Anonymous said...

What's to decide? The artifacts belong to the tribes, not to the federal government. Should be returned immediately.

tabs4959 said...

Anyone who desecrates a grave deserves to go to prison. Until the sanctions fit the crimes then this systematic desecration of our history will continue. I would kill myself too if I were a grave robber.

Anonymous said...

I own a large farm. And indian artifacts are all over it. We beleive they should remain in the soil of our ancesters. Unfortunately, we have treapassers that do not respect our wishes. These are money hungrey theives, as far as I am concerned, and should be delt with as such.

Anonymous said...

The artifacts should be returned to the tribes that they originated with....of course!...Were the husband and father innocent???Maybe....but for the wife and daughter to not be fined and \or punished is wrong.....they knew what they were doing????

fossileislander said...

The artifacts belong to the tribe they were taken from and should be returned. The women are theives and should be held accountable as such. In Tennessee it is a felony to dig for artifacts without permission of the property owner and is pretty specific. Many landowners face the problem of destrucion and trespassing by diggers looking for a quick buck. The same people would be upset if someone wanted to dig up their ancestors for artifacts, it's disgusting. It is difficult to stop these rogues once they locate a new spot to dig. I posted my property and made a point to randomly check for diggers a couple times a week. If more people were held accountable for their actions it would stop.

Redbud said...

This is so sad! What I mean is to steal from a grave! Not only native american graves, but are they going to old pioneer graves and take what they want for a profit. Even if they don't sell the items but let them lay in a dark room or a museum. For God's sake return the items so that we may rebury the things that belong to our ancestors.