UPDATED 10/21/14 > Dinosaur Track Defendant Pleads Guilty and is Sentenced to PRPA Charge in Utah Federal Court

A federal district court in Utah has accepted a guilty plea from a man accused of violating the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (PRPA).

UPDATED > 10/21/14: Judge Dale A. Kimball on October 20, 2014 sentenced Jared Ehlers to one year of probation, including 6 months house arrest, and restitution of $15,090.44, payable at $500 per month.

A grand jury in March indicted 35 year old Jared Ehlers for taking a three-toed dinosaur track from a trail near Moab and then discarding the ancient footprint. Federal prosecutors accused the construction company owner of violating PRPA as well as stealing public property, damaging federal property, and destroying evidence.

Ehlers pleaded guilty yesterday to the PRPA crime. In exchange, the U.S. Attorneys' Office dropped the rest of the charges.

As part of the swiftly concluded plea agreement reached with the defendant's lawyer, prosecutors will recommend a sentence that includes one year of probation, six months home confinement (which allows for the defendant to leave home for work), and $15,090.44 in restitution costs. 

The restitution amount reflects the expense incurred by the Grand County Sheriff's Office and the Utah Department of Safety, whose officers unsuccessfully searched the Colorado River for the 190 million year old dinosaur track discarded by the defendant.

The defendant admitted to several facts in papers filed with the court on Wednesday, including the following:

a. On or about February 17, 2014, I knowingly excavated and removed a paleontological resource, to wit: a 150 pound rock containing a trace fossil of a three-toed dinosaur track 

b. from the Sand Flats Recreation Area which is located on public lands administered by the United States Bureau of Land Management; and 

c. that the value of the paleontological resource, together with the cost of its restoration and repair exceeded $500. 

d. On or about March 3, 2014, I knowingly concealed and covered up the paleontological resource by throwing it into the Colorado River. 

The case of U.S. v. Ehlers might be the first direct, non-conspiracy conviction under PRPA, a law that took effect just five years ago.

One should still take note of the groundbreaking case of U.S. v. Franz, involving a stolen ivory mammoth tusk from Alaska. That case resulted in convictions in 2012 for both conspiracy and theft of government property. The conspiracy conviction explicitly referenced the unauthorized removal of a paleontological resource under PRPA and resulted in a sentence that included a $100,000 fine.

Other known cases have cited PRPA, but they have not resulted in direct convictions under that statute. In 2011 the U.S. Attorney in Utah pursued the case of United States v. Cowan, a PRPA prosecution that also involved the unlawful taking of a dinosaur track. Prosecutors ultimately dismissed the charge on March 12, 2013 after the defendant satisfied a pre-trial diversion program, according to court records. And in the companion case to U.S. v. Franz known as U.S. v. Jettmar, a grand jury originally charged Franz's co-conspirator with a PRPA count, but the defendant entered a plea agreement resulting in a misdemeanor conviction under a separate criminal statue.

The federal district court is expected to sentence Ehlers at a hearing scheduled for October 20.

Photo credit: Wilson Souza

By Rick St. Hilaire Text copyrighted 2010-2014 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post without the express written consent of CHL is prohibited.

Dinosaur Track Gone, Utah Man Indicted for Violation of PRPA

A grand jury indictment handed up this month charges a Utah man with taking and destroying a three-toed dinosaur track near the Hell’s Revenge Trail at the Sand Flats Recreation Area. The area forms part of the the 258 million acres of public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah initiated the case of U.S. v. Jared Ehlers less than 30 days after the defendant allegedly removed, stole, and discarded the dinosaur fossil on or around February 17. Authorities believe that the dinosaur footprint was thrown into a river.

An indictment begins the criminal court process. It is not a finding of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The four-count federal indictment--more reminiscent of charging documents filed in state courts because of its brevity--charges Ehlers with violating the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (PRPA) at 16 U.S.C. § 470aaa-5 as well violating three sections of the federal criminal code, namely stealing public property under 18 U.S.C. § 641, damaging federal property under 18 U.S.C. § 1361, and destroying evidence under 18 U.S.C. § 1519.

All together, the possible penalties include a prison term of 45 years, with the longest incarceration potentially coming from the destruction of evidence charge. Ehlers likely would not receive the maximum sentences were he to be convicted.

The case may be among the first of its kind--if not the first case--prosecuted under PRPA.* That statute, signed into law on March 30, 2009, is an outgrowth of a Department of Interior report published in 2000 titled Assessment of Fossil Management on Federal and Indian Lands. The report recommended that

[f]uture actions should penalize the theft of fossils from federal lands in a way that maximizes the effectiveness of prosecutions and deters future thefts. Penalties should take into account, among other factors, the value of fossils themselves, as well as any damage resulting from their illegal collection.

Federal prosecutors have moved quickly in the Ehlers case, buoyed by federal, state, and county cooperation. The Grand County Sheriff's Office earlier reported that the agency was working with the Utah Department of Safety and BLM to find the fossil track possibly beneath the waters of the Colorado River.

Cultural property prosecutions remain infrequent and require continuing public and judicial support. So it is wise in this case that prosecutors chose to have the defendant summoned to court rather than arrested. The decision contrasts with the FBI and BLM raids in 2009 that ignited a long-running feud between citizens, collectors, dealers, and law enforcement authorities in the American Southwest.

*UPDATE July 9, 2014: Further research suggests that U.S. v. Ehlers may be the first direct, non-conspiracy conviction under PRPA. See the blog post describing the guilty plea entered in this case here.

By Rick St. Hilaire Text copyrighted 2010-2014 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com