KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri man and others broke right into a prehistoric Native American archeological website and used shovels, rakes and different instruments to dig up artifacts, inflicting a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} in harm, in keeping with a federal indictment.
Johnny Lee Brown, 70, of Clinton, Missouri, was charged in an 11-count indictment filed April 26 however unsealed and made public on Tuesday.
The indictment alleges that Brown, two recognized co-conspirators and others, excavated archeological objects from federal land at Truman Lake close to the city of Tightwad, Missouri, no less than 10 instances from June 2016 via September.
The positioning is managed by the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers and positioned on a peninsula. It dates to the Late Archaic Interval, 3,000 to five,000 years in the past. The indictment states that the findings point out it was used as a camp website, as a location for stone processing, or each.
The suspects allegedly used small handheld trowels, shovels, rakes and hoes, and used buckets and backpacks to take objects away from the positioning. The indictment doesn’t state what Brown and the others allegedly did with the taken objects.
The unlawful excavation brought about greater than $300,000 in harm, the U.S. Legal professional’s workplace in Kansas Metropolis stated. Members of the Osage Nation advised federal investigators that the harm “vastly impacts the cultural historical past of the Osage Nation and affiliated tribes,” the indictment states.
Brown’s legal professional on Wednesday didn’t instantly reply to an e mail looking for remark.
