[meteorite-list] Value of Nationalized Meteorites

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Feb 20 19:55:34 2006
Message-ID: <20060221005531.53546.qmail_at_web31511.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Priceless = Worthless (From a monetary standpoint).
I never said thay they didnt deserve the sentence they
got. Actually I am surprised it was so light.
However, in US court sentensing of theft crimes is
often based on the value of something. For example, in
the United States a person can be charged with "THEFT
UNDER $1000" and "THEFT OVER $1000). Theft under $1000
is less serious and would get a lighter sentence than
if it was over $1000 even if the exact same crime was
committed.
If somebody got into a stock market price manipulation
sceme and it was 25 million dollars (Like enron for
example) you might get a life sentence. If you got
manipulating stocks of a small company and improperly
earned $25,000 you would get a year or two.
Value makes a difference in court come sentensing
time. And those meteorites could not be sold for the
amount indiacted in court. The Market value mentioned
in court of out of touch with reality and flat out
wrong. If that figure was used in sentensing the
sentence was not properly calculated because it was
based on a false assumption of value.
Wither there should have been a longer or shorter
sentence is not what I am commenting on (And dont
really have an opinion on anyway - thats for the court
to decide). Whats relivent is that an improper
valuation of the seriousness of the crime was taken
into account in sentensing and thats whats wrong with
the sentence that they received - not what the
sentence actually was or if it was to lenient or
harsh.
Cheers
DEAN






--- Michael Farmer <meteoritehunter_at_comcast.net>
wrote:

> Car you crazy Dean? Those stones are priceless! The
> USA spent billions of
> $$$ to go there and get them, so you cant put a
> market value on them.
> The bastards deserve every second they have rotting
> in prison. I cant
> believe one of them is dumb enough to break the
> rules so bad they got sent
> to a Supermax prison, that is where the worst of the
> worst go. Shows he must
> be a little more than a petty thief.
> Mike
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "dean bessey" <deanbessey_at_yahoo.com>
> To: "MARK BOSTICK" <thebigcollector_at_msn.com>;
> <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 5:32 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Value of Nationalized
> Meteorites
>
>
> >I wonder who the 3 "Individuals who buy and sell
> > meteorites" are:
> > ____________________________________________
> > The meteorites, martian samples and lunar samples
> > taken in the theft of the safe from my lab at
> NASA's
> > Johnson Space Center were appraised by three
> > individuals who buy and sell meteorites.
> > _________________________________________________
> >
> > Obviously they are a little out of touch with the
> > meteorite market and cant differentiate between if
> .03
> > gram and several pounds were released. I still
> > remember how chessagny was considered by everybody
> to
> > be worth $100,000 a gram until steve Arnold traded
> for
> > half a gram driving the price to I believe
> $10,000.
> > As some people might say on the list I suspect
> that 3
> > or 4 grams would put their estimated "price in
> ruin".
> > Those people who got put in jail for years based
> on
> > stealing meteorites with a market value so hi
> surely
> > got ripped off during sentensing if the prisen
> term
> > would have been lighter if the actual price that
> the
> > meteorites could have been sold at in the market
> was
> > taken into account rather than a theoritical
> valuation
> > that has no resemblence to reality.
> > Cheers
> > DEAN
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_msn.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Hello list,
> >>
> >> Dr. Everett Gibson, who is not a list member, did
> >> have a few comments along
> >> our discussion, which he is once again is kindly
> >> letting me share with the
> >> group.
> >>
> >> The meat on the pricing related here is: ~103
> grams
> >> for 7-8 million on the
> >> low side, to ~234 million on the high side.
> Which
> >> is $70,000-80,000 a gram,
> >> to a little over 2 million a gram.
> >>
> >> Clear Skies,
> >> Mark Bostick
> >> www.meteoritearticles.com
> >>
> >>
> >> Mark,
> >> The meteorites, martian samples and lunar
> >> samples taken in the theft
> >> of
> >> the safe from my lab at NASA's Johnson Space
> Center
> >> were appraised by three
> >> individuals who buy and sell meteorites. The
> >> monetary values determined by
> >> the
> >> three appraisers was used in the trial of Gordon
> >> McWhorter and the
> >> sentencing
> >> hearing for Thad Roberts. I would prefer not to
> >> give the monetary values
> >> determined by the appraisers but I can tell you
> the
> >> value for the ALH84001
> >> sample was staggering.
> >> The attorneys argued over whether the cost
> of
> >> the Apollo program
> >> should
> >> be "figured" into the value of the lunar samples.
> >> The monetary value of
> >> the
> >> samples figured into the length of the sentences
> >> given the defendants.
> >> Taking the weight of the 53 different lunar
> samples
> >> stolen (~103 grams total
> >> weight stolen) along with the mass of returned
> lunar
> >> samples from the six
> >> Apollo
> >> missions, and costs for the missions. The top
> >> value of the appraised
> >> material
> >> came to ~$234 million dollars. The lower value
> was
> >> in the $7 to 8 million
> >> dollar range-excluding selected Apollo mission
> costs
> >> . The actual numbers
> >> are
> >> in the court testimony which I have not seen
> because
> >> as a witness I was
> >> excluded from that testimony.
> >> As a side light, McWhorter was found guilty
> >> and sentenced to ~60 or 70
> >> months in federal custody. He is currently in
> the
> >> Fort Worth Federal
> >> Mental
> >> Facility and is not scheduled to be released
> until
> >> April 2008. Thad
> >> Roberts
> >> was sentenced to 90 months federal custody. His
> >> last appeal (based on his
> >> belief that he was sentenced too harshly) has
> just
> >> been denied within the
> >> past
> >> two months. He has recently been transferred
> from
> >> the medium level
> >> security
> >> facility in Florence, CO to the Super Maximum
> >> Security Facility (SUPER-MAX!)
> >> in
> >> Florence, CO because of failing to obey the
> rules.
> >> Roberts is scheduled to
> >> be released the end of January 2009.
> >> Everett
> >>
> >>
> >> ______________________________________________
> >> Meteorite-list mailing list
> >> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> >>
> >
>
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
> >>
> >
> >
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> >
>
>
>


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Received on Mon 20 Feb 2006 07:55:31 PM PST