A Utah man who was digging in Yellowstone National Park while searching for a buried treasure that captivated thousands this week pleaded guilty and possibly sentenced him to prison.
Rodrick Dow Craythorn, 52, did not find the treasure that art dealer New Mexico buried a decade ago.
Craythorn was charged in September with digging in Fort Yellowstone Cemetery. He pleaded guilty this week to one count of excavating or trading in archaeological resources and injuring or weakening property in the United States, and is serving a maximum of 12 years in prison. Online court records show that there was a plea agreement, but it is not publicly available. Sentencing is scheduled for March 17.
An attorney for Craythorn did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Forrest Fenn treasure, found in June, was a casket of gold and jewelery that Fenn hid between 2009 and 2010 and is estimated to be worth about $ 2 million. A poem contains clues to the location of the treasure.
“The hunt for the Forrest Fenn treasure is often considered a harmless distraction, but in this case it has led to major damage to important public resources,” Mark Klaassen, U.S. Attorney for the Wyoming District, said Tuesday in a statement. statement said.
“The accused let his journey of discovery dominate respect for the law,” Klaassen said.
Before the treasure was discovered, several people died while searching for it. In 2017, the head of state police in New Mexico discouraged people from hunting for it, citing the dangers associated with it.
Fenn left searchers nine clues in a poem in his book, “The Thrill of the Chase,” and said the hunt was meant to get people outside and explore nature. Thousands reportedly searched for it at one time or another.
Fenn announced in June that the treasure had been found, but did not say who found it or exactly where. Fenn passed away in September.
In December, a grandson of Fenn confirmed that the inventor Jonathan “Jack” Stuef, 32, a medical student from Michigan, reports The Associated Press. Stuef writes in a report on Medium that he found the breast in Wyoming on June 6th. He did not set out the location.
It does not appear from court documents how much damage Craythorn caused during the digging in Fort Yellowstone Cemetery, which according to prosecutors took place between October 2019 and May 24; the indictment only states that it was greater than $ 1,000. Representatives of the park declined to comment earlier because the criminal case was ongoing.
Fort Yellowstone was built in the park after the Army was sent in for poaching, souvenir hunting and other damaging acts after the National Park was established by Congress in 1872, according to the park service. Thirty-five buildings are still there.
The army remained in the park until 1918 when duties were transferred to the National Park Service, which had been instituted by Congress two years earlier.
