[meteorite-list] SENTENCE IN MOON ROCK SCAM

From: Peter Scherff <peterscherff_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:44:39 2004
Message-ID: <000701c0ac6f$74e9ca80$792c96d1_at_rockscher>

Hi,

    I just saw this on MSNBC:

SENTENCE IN MOON ROCK SCAM
       A Connecticut man who sold rocks that he claimed were gathered from
the moon's surface during the historic 1969 Apollo 11 lunar landing was
sentenced Monday to 21 months in federal prison.
        U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver in Phoenix sentenced Richard Keith
Mountain, of New Milford, Conn., after he pleaded guilty last October to six
counts of mail and wire fraud for selling the "moon rocks" in Vancouver,
British Columbia.
       Mountain, 53, using an alias, owned and operated several businesses
in Arizona and California that sold artwork and collectibles dealing with
space exploration. He earned almost $100,000 selling what he claimed were
lunar soil samples collected by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
       The Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston
analyzed the granules sold by Mountain and determined they were not from the
moon.
       As part of his sentence, Mountain has to repay the victims for their
purchases.


Thanks,

Peter Scherff
Received on Wed 14 Mar 2001 05:13:45 AM PST