CompuServe Messages

Hi folks– Two messages from the Internet rocks-and-fossils mail list about the Sue suits in Sioux Falls follow (try saying that 3 times fast). –Doug Subject: Black Hills Institute Indicted on Fossil Theft Date: 17-Dec-93 at 12:11 From: Ron Baalke, INTERNET:BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov Fossil thefts prompt indictment Associated Press 11/24/93 Sioux Falls, S.D. — A federal grand jury indicted a Hill City firm Tuesday on charges it stole fossils from government lands and falsified records to cover up the thefts. The 39-count indictment against the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research includes charges of theft of government property, interstate transportation of stolen goods, making false statements and money laundering. The most serious charges — money laundering — carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The grand jury also indicted eight people, including the institute's owners: Neal and Peter Larson and Robert Farrar. Also charged were institute employee Terry Wentz of Hill City; Edwin Allen Cole, Ava Cole and Edwin Allen Cole II of Delta, Utah; and Jun Shimizu of Calabasas, Calif. The indictment is the latest installment in a court battle between the institute and federal officials that began in May 1992, when agents seized a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil nicknamed "Sue." That fossil is being stored at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City while a legal battle continues over its ownership. Patrick Duffy, a Rapid City lawyer representing the institute, called the indictments "science fiction." U.S. Attorney Karen Schreier said the grand jury probe of the institute took more than two years. Subject: Court Rules Sue Does Not Belong to Excavators Date: 17-Dec-93 at 00:43 From: Ron Baalke, INTERNET:BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov "Dinosaur bones don't belong to excavators" PIERRE, S.D. — The most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found does not belong to the private fossil-hunting company that dug it up three years ago, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday [12/15/93]. The decision by the three-judge panel means that the federal government will continue to hold the 65 million-year-old fossil, nicknamed "Sue," in trust for the rancher from whose land it was taken. Federal law prevents the rancher from selling the fossil without approval of the U.S. Interior Department, the court said. Patrick Duffy, a lawyer for the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research said the company will either appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or ask the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to reconsider the case.