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

From: Walter Branch <branchw_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:00:11 2004
Message-ID: <003401c23512$aff5cc00$9abe5341_at_cc516468a>

Hello Everyone,

I emailed Mr. Emmermann yesterday, thanking him for his assistance in
capturing the thieves. This was, in part, his reply to me:

>I do not feel that I deserve so much credit...
>I just chose NOT to turn away while I saw a crime in
>progress. That's in fact a logical thing to do because, if
>you think about it,.... wouldn't the world be a better
>place if that were common practice?

Nice guy, eh?

-Walter

-----------------------------------------------
Walter Branch, Ph.D.
Branch Meteorites
322 Stephenson Ave., Suite B
Savannah, GA 31405 USA
www.branchmeteorites.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2002 8:31 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Collector's Morals Let FBI To Moon Rocks Sale


>
>
> 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.
>
>
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Received on Fri 26 Jul 2002 10:09:49 PM PDT