[meteorite-list] Suspect In Moon-Rocks Case Admits Identity

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:08 2004
Message-ID: <200304152053.NAA16116_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=74240

Suspect in moon-rocks case admits identity
Associated Press
April 15, 2003

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The suspect who didn't show up for a
Florida trial on charges of stealing moon rocks admitted his identity in a
Utah court Tuesday.

Gordon McWhorter, 27, of Salt Lake City, now will be sent to the state to
face trial.

He 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 for trial in Florida last Monday and was
arrested one day later at Juice and Java in Provo. He was taken before U.S.
Magistrate David Nuffer in Salt Lake City for an identity hearing Monday,
but was not cooperative and another hearing was set for Tuesday.

McWhorter admitted his identity Tuesday, said U.S. Attorney spokeswoman
Melodie Rydalch.

The stolen 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 FBI in Tampa began investigating in May 2002 when a Belgian rock
collector alerted investigators to Internet offers to sell moon rocks for
$1,000 to $5,000 a gram.

The moon rocks were found in an Orlando hotel room in a fishing tackle box
that also contained meteorites and NASA records documenting their
authenticity, according to court records.
Received on Tue 15 Apr 2003 04:53:38 PM PDT