[meteorite-list] Suspect In Moon Rock Theft Arrest In Utah

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:07 2004
Message-ID: <200304112102.OAA25315_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030411&Category=APN&ArtNo=304110658&Ref=AR

Suspect in moon-rock theft arrested in Utah
The Associated Press
April 11, 2003

A suspect accused of working with three NASA interns to steal moon rocks
from a government safe was arrested in Utah one day after he failed to show
up for his trial in Florida.

Gordon McWhorter, 27, of Salt Lake City, was the only one of the four
defendants who did not plead guilty to last year's thefts from NASA's Johnson
Space Center in Houston.

McWhorter failed to show up in federal court Monday in Orlando and a judge
issued a bench warrant for his arrest. He was arrested a day later in Provo,
said police spokeswoman Karen Mayne.

McWhorter was taken before a magistrate in Salt Lake City for an identity
hearing, said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Salt Lake
City. But he was not cooperative and another hearing was set for next Tuesday.

The rocks came from every Apollo mission from 1969 to 1972. McWhorter and his
three co-defendants carried away a 600-pound safe that also contained meteorites
from Mars, prosecutors allege. The moon rocks were recovered.

In another development, one of McWhorter's co-defendants, Thad Ryan Roberts, 26,
was charged Wednesday with stealing dinosaur artifacts.

Roberts was accused of stealing from an undisclosed Utah location artifacts
including teeth from several types of dinosaurs, a skull, bones and a footprint.

Rydalch said the new case will be transferred to federal court in Florida, where
it will be resolved with the moon-rock case.
Received on Fri 11 Apr 2003 05:02:10 PM PDT