[meteorite-list] Four Charged In Theft Of Apollo Moon Rocks and ALH84001 Meteorite From JSC

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:00:11 2004
Message-ID: <200207262318.QAA03928_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1504496

Four charged in theft of moon rocks

Material from Houston worth $1 million

By MARK CARREAU
Houston Chronicle
July 23, 2002

FBI agents put their deductive skills to work in nabbing four people
suspected of stealing a safe from NASA's Johnson Space Center that contained
tiny pieces of lunar soil and a famous Martian meteorite valued at more than
$1 million.

"We put two and two together," Houston FBI spokesman Bob
Doguim said Monday. "We had missing rocks in Houston, and
some people trying to sell them online."

Two men and a woman were arrested in Orlando, Fla., over
the weekend as America quietly marked the 33rd anniversary
of the first Apollo moon landing. Another woman was
arrested in Houston on Monday.

Three of the four suspects in the bizarre case were working
at Johnson this summer as college interns or co-ops as they
pursued careers in space science and engineering.

A tip to authorities from a Belgian rock hound in late May
led authorities to the suspects. The FBI monitored and
coached the Belgian in his electronic communications with
the suspects and eventually enticed them to bring the
stolen materials to Florida.

None of the four charged in the case was alive on July 20,
1969, when Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin piloted their
spindly spacecraft to a breathtaking landing in a lunar boulder field.

Those arrested by the FBI on Saturday night in the parking lot of an Italian
restaurant near the Orlando airport were:

o Thad Ryan Roberts, 25, a co-op student from the University of Utah, who
was employed by Johnson's Mission Operations Directorate at the water tank
where astronauts train for spacewalks.

o Gordon Sean McWorter, 26, identified as a friend of Roberts' from the
University of Utah. He was not employed by NASA.

o Tiffany Brooke Fowler, 22, an intern and recent biology graduate of Texas
Lutheran University in Odessa, who was employed by Johnson's Space and Life
Sciences Directorate.

The fourth person, arrested on Monday in Houston, was
Shae Lynn Saur, 19, a student from Lamar University in
Beaumont. She was employed by Johnson's Structural
Engineering and Thermal Design division.

Saur was released on $25,000 bond in Houston, and Fowler
was freed on bail in Florida. McWorter and Roberts were
being held at the Orange County (Fla.) Jail.

Roberts, who authorities said was a ringleader in the
caper, as well as Fowler and Saur were dismissed by NASA
on Monday, likely ending any chance of future space
program careers.

Roberts, McWorter and Fowler were apprehended in Florida
after driving there from Houston. They were lured to
Orlando by undercover agents who had arranged to buy
samples of the lunar and meteorite samples.

Saur did not participate in the 900-mile drive because
she planned to complete a scuba diving certification,
authorities said.

All four were charged with conspiracy to commit theft
and transport in interstate commerce of government
property, including 53 samples of rock weighing 5 ounces
and 165 fragments of meteorite, also weighing 5 ounces.

The meteoritic material included a fragment of ALH
84001, a rare Martian meteorite. In 1996, NASA
scientists made the still-disputed claim that ALH 84001
might contain fossilized evidence of ancient microbial
life.

According to the FBI, Roberts, Fowler and Saur stole a
600-pound NASA safe containing the materials from a
laboratory in a curatorial facility at Johnson. The moon
rocks and soil collected by the Apollo astronauts as
well as meteorites collected from remote sites of the
world are stored in the facility for scientific study.

All told, six Apollo missions launched between July 1969
and December 1972 landed on the moon. A dozen astronauts
returned to Earth with 842 pounds of soil and rock.

The safe containing the materials was stolen from the
NASA lab on July 15, though the theft was not noticed
for two days.

The theft was reported to NASA's security forces, the
agency's inspector general and the FBI on July 17, said
NASA spokeswoman Eileen Hawley.

Sara Oates, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Tampa, and Hawley said they could
not comment on how the two men and the woman managed to remove the safe from
the lab.

"How the safe was removed is part of a (continuing ) investigation," said
Hawley. "Until we fully understand all the circumstances, it would be
premature for me to say whether we need to re-evaluate our security
processes."

Though the theft was reported in mid-July, the case dates back to May 24,
when agents assigned to an FBI Internet crime task force in Tampa received
an e-mail from a Belgian citizen who claimed membership in the Mineralogy
Club of Antwerp.

The so-far-unidentified Belgian informed authorities in Florida the club had
received an e-mail from an "Orb Robinson," later traced by investigators
back to Roberts, McWorter, Fowler and Saur, that proclaimed, "Priceless Moon
Rocks Now Available."

Posted on the club's Web site, it read, "If you have an interest in
purchasing a rare and historically significant piece of the moon, and would
like more information, then please contact me by e-mail and leave your
contact information and an explanation of your interest. Sincerely, Orb."

A second e-mail, from fractalized_at_yahoo.com, also was traced to the four
suspects. Also intercepted by the Antwerp club, the message identified
Robinson as being from Tampa and possessing a moon rock he wished to sell.

The exchange of e-mails ensued between the suspects and the Belgian, all
monitored by the federal agents. The origin of the U.S. e-mails was traced
to the Johnson Space Center, the Houston Public Library and the University
of Utah, said Oates.

The Belgian posed as a prospective buyer early in the exchanges and later,
with coaching from the FBI, agreed to negotiate a purchase from his source.

As the discussions heated up, the Belgian proposed that the mythical
Robinson agree to meet with a relative in the United States. FBI agents
assumed the role and guided the discussions to agreement for a meeting on
Saturday in Orlando.

Throughout the electronic exchanges, Robinson challenged the authenticity of
the prospective buyers, fretted over the site of the meeting and ultimately
raised the asking price.

By July 17, the mythical Robinson was bragging that he had access to "the
world's largest private Apollo rock collection, not to mention the only
verifiable Apollo rock collection." Robinson offered a variety of samples
and raised his asking prices, depending on their size and whether they had
been altered through scientific investigation, according to the federal
complaint.

His final asking prices ranged from $2,000 to $8,000 a gram.

Chronicle reporters Rosanna Ruiz, Stephen Dove and S.K. Bardwell contributed
to this story.
Received on Fri 26 Jul 2002 07:18:32 PM PDT