[meteorite-list] Collector's Morals Let FBI To Moon Rocks Sale

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:00:11 2004
Message-ID: <200207270031.RAA07672_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/space/1507785

Collector's morals led FBI to moon rocks sale
By MARK CARREAU and ROMA KHANNA
Houston Chronicle
July 25, 2002

As it turned out, Belgian rock collector Axel Emmermann
had a conscience.

The 50-year-old chemist with a passion for
phosphorescent minerals was a poor prospect for a
bizarre offer to buy moon rocks and meteorites stolen
from NASA's Johnson Space Center.

When Emmermann and others in the Mineralogy Club of
Antwerp, Belgium, received an e-mail inquiry in
May titled "Priceless Moon Rocks Now Available," he
reported the strange overture to the Tampa, Fla.,
office of the FBI.

Last weekend, his tip led to the FBI's recovery of 10
ounces of moon rocks and meteorites stolen from JSC
earlier this month as well as the arrest of a NASA co-op
student, a summer intern and a third suspect. A
second NASA summer intern was arrested in Houston
on Monday and charged in the heist as well.

"I know Neil Armstrong, his successors and a lot of
brave men risked their lives getting those stones, and
they belong to the American public, the American
government and NASA," Emmermann said Wednesday
in a telephone interview from his home in Mortsel, south
of Antwerp.

"I couldn't bring myself to buy anything. It's
wrong, and no one should make money out of those
rocks. I find it appalling and immoral."

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first to
walk on the moon 33 years ago this week, as
the commander and pilot of Apollo 11. Five more
Apollo missions reached the lunar surface with 10
more astronauts before the program ended in
December 1972.

All told, they returned to Earth 842 pounds of lunar
rock and soil, which was stored at Johnson.

According to federal authorities, Thad Ryan
Roberts, 25, the NASA co-op, along with interns
Tiffany Brooke Fowler, 22, and Shae Lynn Saur,
19, broke into a NASA lab on July 13 and
removed a 600-pound safe containing 5 ounces of
moon rock and 5 ounces of meteoritic material.

While investigators placed the scientific value of the
recovered moon rock and dust at $1 million, the value of
the rare material to collectors is estimated at more than
$565 million.

According to the FBI, Roberts and Fowler late last week
drove the stolen materials to Orlando, Fla., where they
expected to sell at least some of the rare cache to people
they thought were Emmermann's brother and
sister-in-law. Roberts and Fowler were met in Florida
before the transaction by Gordon Sean McWhorter, 26, of
Utah, an unemployed friend of Roberts', authorities said.

The strange caper began on May 9, when the Mineralogy
Club of Antwerp, which maintains a prominent Web site
for rock collectors, received the unsolicited moon rock
e-mail from "Orb Robinson" that stated in part, "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."

Emmermann received a similar e-mail that stated in part,
"Greetings, My name is Orb Robinson from Tampa, Fl. I
have in my possession a rare multi-karat moon rock I am
trying to find a buyer for ... "

As the investigation unfolded, authorities identified "Orb
Robinson" as Roberts and the source of his e-mails as
computers at the Johnson Space Center, the Houston
Public Library and the University of Utah. Roberts
attended the Utah school, where he was majoring in
physics, geology and geophysics.

While Emmermann's fellow club members dismissed
thee-mail pitch, he could not.

"Robinson, I thought, was probably quite an educated
man," Emmermann recalled. "So, I took him seriously,
and I said let's look into this."

The Belgian responded and after a further exchange
decided "Orb Robinson" would not be so brazen if he
were attempting to peddle materials that were
counterfeit.

On May 24, Emmermann used e-mail to alert the FBI
office in Tampa, which coincidentally is the site of a
federal task force that specializes in the investigation of
Internet crime.

Over the summer, the FBI coached Emmermann in a
series of e-mail negotiations with the mysterious moon
rock merchant. Eventually, the Belgian persuaded "Orb
Robinson" to meet with his brother and sister-in-law in
Orlando, fictitious participants in the scheme who were
really undercover investigators.

Just a few days before the encounter, FBI agents
messaged Emmermann that they were preparing arrest
warrants. On Tuesday, authorities formally
acknowledged that he had played a pivotal role in the
case.

The Belgian said the case made him recall that in 1978,
the U.S. ambassador to his country made the rare loan of
some heavily guarded moon rocks to the Antwerp club for
an exhibit.

"We have paid our debt to NASA in full by stopping this
conspiracy," Emmermann said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Roberts and McWhorter appeared in a
Tampa federal court hearing on Wednesday to seek
release on bail.

During the appearance, McWhorter "shot his mouth off,"
said his court-appointed attorney. Daniel Daly advised
his client not to address the judge, but McWhorter said
he wanted to make a statement, according to courtroom
observers.

McWhorter said he just wanted to go home and take care
of his cat. He said he did not understand why the judge
thought he might flee. The judge admonished McWhorter,
telling him he did not take the charges seriously enough.

When told he could face more than five years in prison,
McWhorter became animated.

"They are trying to crucify me," he said, according to
observers.

McWhorter and Roberts could be released on bail as
early as today. If family members are willing, the men will
be released on $25,000 bail. Fowler and Saur were
released on bail earlier this week.
Received on Fri 26 Jul 2002 08:31:46 PM PDT