[meteorite-list] Rockhound Helped FBI Get Stolen Moon Rocks

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:00:11 2004
Message-ID: <200207291559.IAA02776_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-locmoonrock29072902jul29.story?coll=orl%2Dnews%2Dheadlines

Rockhound helped FBI get stolen moon rocks
By Pedro Ruz Gutierrez
Orlando Sentinel
July 29, 2002

To his wife of six years, Thad Roberts was an ambitious academic
achiever who would be an astronaut some day.

To Axel Emmermann, a Belgian amateur astronomer and rockhound
who helped the FBI recover stolen lunar and meteorite samples,
Roberts was an opportunist who hatched a plot to steal historic
Apollo mission treasures and sell them on the Internet.

Roberts, fellow NASA intern Tiffany Fowler, 22, and his friend
Gordon McWhorter, 26, were arrested July 20 in Orlando, where
authorities say they traveled to sell moon rocks and meteorite pieces
stolen from Houston's Johnson Space Center. Another NASA
intern, Shae Saur, 19, was arrested in Texas.

"What were those guys thinking? 'I'm going to steal a part of the
moon from the mightiest nation on earth,' " said Emmermann, before
breaking into laughter in a telephone interview. "You can't get away
with it . . . or you would be a fugitive for the rest of your life. You
really have to be daft to do so."

Emmermann, a 50-year-old lab chemist, in late May alerted the FBI
Tampa office to an ad that appeared on the Mineralogy Club of
Antwerp's Web site: "Priceless Moon Rocks Now Available!!!"

Emmermann first thought it was a hoax. But he grew suspicious after
posing as a buyer and getting e-mails from an "Orb Robinson," who
claimed to be from Tampa. "Orb" was an alias for Roberts, who along
with Fowler and Saur, confessed to investigators after their arrests.

With Emmermann's help, undercover FBI agents set up a sting in
Orlando where they lured the would-be sellers with promises to pay
at least $100,000 for the goods.

"Since moon rocks are somewhat of a natural treasure, property that
various people risked their lives to get, I thought this is not right.
Let's try to stop them," he said.

Emmermann's feat did not go unnoticed. The mayor of his
hometown, Mortsel, Belgium, personally delivered flowers to his
home. And the European media hounded him.

While he doesn't consider himself a hero, he certainly saved the day.

"No, I don't consider myself Superman or Spider Man. I'm just a guy
trying to do the right thing," he said.

Pursuing degrees in geology and physics, Thad Roberts also seemed
to be doing the right thing. His now-estranged wife, Kaydee
Roberts, said he is a certified pilot and scuba diver who used to dig
for minerals and fossils with her. She said he had what looked like a
promising future at NASA.

Kaydee Roberts is a Salt Lake City dental assistant. She has been
separated from her husband for about a year.

Thad Roberts, founder and president of the University of Utah's
astronomical society, had worked for NASA as part of the space
center's cooperative education program. Last summer, he worked in
the same lab that contained the 600-pound safe and 10 ounces of
space material that investigators said he stole.

In a NASA biography earlier this year, Roberts said, "I've been
able to break real Apollo moon rocks and catalog them. I have also
been learning how to make thin sections of meteorites and moon rocks
for scientific distribution."

Roberts' knowledge of the lab, NASA investigators say, helped him
plan the heist.

"He had worked there for a summer so he was well acquainted with
the doors, the entrance and exits," said Lance Carrington, head of
the NASA inspector general's office in Houston.

Roberts and McWhorter remained in a Tampa detention facility last
week after each failed to post $25,000 bail set by a federal
magistrate. Fowler, who was identified by agents as Roberts'
girlfriend, and Saur were released last week after posting bail.

Roberts' arrest has shocked friends, professors and family.

"He has ruined his whole career over this," said Kaydee Roberts,
24, a Utah native who was Thad Roberts' high-school sweetheart and
married him in 1996. "Maybe he saw an opportunity to make money."

She said she is saddened by what happened.

"He would have been an astronaut if he had not done this," she
said of Roberts' planned future career with NASA. "But he chose
the wrong path, and he didn't think about the consequences. I just
don't think he was expecting to get caught."

Pedro Ruz Gutierrez can be reached at pruz_at_orlandosentinel.com or
407-420-5398.
Received on Mon 29 Jul 2002 11:59:55 AM PDT