[meteorite-list] Ultimately Un-Stung in the Sting...

From: Kevin Kichinka <marsrox_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:22:43 -0600
Message-ID: <CANDn_7GPKXe3E=P2WYXw_F30_jgALYK_7pJi-tTF7fhahfHH8w_at_mail.gmail.com>

Team Meteorite:


In a recent correspondence entitled "Space Loot", list member Phil
Whitmer has shared an article about a past sting operation coordinated
by agencies of the US Government seeking sellers of space program
lunar material.


I wrote about this before, and do so again because "this can happen to you".


I became part of their witch hunt of those illegally owning/selling
moon rocks when I answered a fake ad they placed in USA Today several
years ago.


Two "buyers of moon rocks" journeyed to my home in Fort Myers, Florida
to set up and arrest me. They left empty handed when I could not offer
them the silver-dollar size Apollo program lunar rocks they sought.
They were not interested in buying small 0.01 frags of the first-ever
lunar meteorite on the market I had purchased from Blaine Reed. No
matter how patiently I explained the difference between a lunar met
and a space program rock, even warning them to be careful, "it's
illegal to possess material from the space program", they weren't
paying attention, just boasting about how "their clients" could
purchase "anything they wanted". They were so ignorant of the material
they sought, so totally clueless about its petrology or appearance,
that I recommended they not buy something they couldn't scientifically
explain, and instead purchase "for their clients " a large Campo that
"anyone would know is a meteorite."


Those with copies of my book (only 70 copies remain for sale), "The
Art of Collecting Meteorites", can read about how their visit caused
me to become a "person of interest" to the US government. This is
never a good thing.


I was later detained by US Customs after returning from abroad. My
"escape" involved then-US Congressman Porter Goss (who later ran the
CIA), US Senator Connie Mack who's grandfather is in the baseball Hall
of Fame, and a joint request that all "photos, secret audio tapes and
transcripts" obtained at my home be destroyed.


The Chief of United States Customs eventually wrote a letter of
apology to me and freed me from further investigation.



Thanks to Phil, I now know the names of the goofy guys that let me put
on a meteorite "dog-and-pony" show in my dining room one summer
morning hoping only to sell them meteorites while they hoped to take
me away in chains.


A google search of attorney Gutheinz, Jr. shows him to be very proud
of his work, he's a real crime fighter.


In this article he says, ""If someone hands a governor a moon rock,
and he keeps it or loses it, if you can't protect something like
that, maybe they're not that vigilant," said Mr. Gutheinz, a retired
senior special agent in NASA's inspector general office. "And if
they're not that careful, and they bring it home with them, what else
have they brought home with them?"


I'll take the high road here and not share my opinion about one who
invents evil intent and let list members determine for themselves the
motives for such a person. But it's clear to me that after all these
years, my innocent solicitation for business from these yoyos could
have ruined my life.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


"Few Americans have been as focused on moon rocks as Joseph R. Gutheinz Jr.,
a Texas lawyer who keeps a spinning globe on his desk reading, "Moon Rock
Hunter." The title is not official (the globe was a gift from one of his
sons), but it might as well be: Mr. Gutheinz and his criminal justice
students at the University of Phoenix and Alvin Community College in Alvin,
Tex., have helped track down 77 moon rocks that were missing, including
those presented to governors in Colorado, Missouri and West Virginia.


Mr. Gutheinz was the undercover agent who led a Miami sting operation to
recover a moon rock stolen in Honduras in 1998. It was called Operation
Lunar Eclipse. Mr. Gutheinz ran an advertisement in USA Today reading, "Moon
Rocks Wanted," and a man called offering to sell him a real moon rock. The
asking price was $5 million.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here is another interesting link to this event.


http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-062902a.html

Kevin Kichinka
Santa Ana, Costa Rica
Marsrox at gmail.com
www.theartofcollectingmeteorites.com
Received on Mon 23 Jan 2012 04:22:43 PM PST