Shifty doin's by the Feds: Treasure hunters challenge FBI over dig for Civil War gold

GoDeep

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Have you heard anything from your FOIA request?

Nothing yet, it said on the request page that they have 5 days to reply, which doesn't mean i'll get anything in 5 days, just that they have 5 business days to acknowledge the request and if they have files and cost of the files etc it sounds like. Im hopeful what I receive will at least give some insight into where to turn next for more information, be that the FBI or maybe even the Sheriffs office as they too were at the dig. Hurry up and wait as they say in the military.

I'll post up what I receive when I get it, but just to note that, by ruling of the moderator, we are not to discuss this case as it pertains to anything with FindersKeepers case, which I agree with. This isn't to be used as a sword against any other members, it's to be used for what it is, a fact finding mission on what is in those government files.
 

nomad 11

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shifty ? well thats a matter of perspective ? it might even progress to being shady after review of the documents ? we shall see ? shall we ? we shall.
 

Bruce R

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Supposed to be a government of the people by the people for the people, it makes perfect sense to me that we as individuals should be able to punish the FBI or any other government entity when and as we see fit.
 

GoDeep

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Have you heard anything from your FOIA request?

Yes, they sent me two emails and specifically said in their cover letter that they have no other information, files, photo's etc. The two emails they sent were one of the Pennsylvania DCNR trying to confirm with the FBI that they could take photo's at the dig since they had received conflicting orders. And the second was a automated reply from the FBI to that email saying they were out of the office and to call. I'll scan them and get them up here as soon as I have a chance (just been lagging due to this coronavirus). I have no reason to doubt there is no file at the DCNR as they claim as it appears that the dig was an FBI operation, not a DCNR dig and they were just observers. But the two emails did give me the names of where I can pursue next in going after the FBI's file.
 

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Honest Samuel

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It is call the run around which the FBI is know for. You should contact both of your U S senators and the two from Pa. to speed things up. Good luck and good hunting my friend.
 

GoDeep

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It is call the run around which the FBI is know for. You should contact both of your U S senators and the two from Pa. to speed things up. Good luck and good hunting my friend.

I can't fault the FBI yet, as my FOIA request was just to the Pennsylvania DCNR, next up will be an information request to the FBI.
 

OP
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MiddenMonster

MiddenMonster

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I can't fault the FBI yet, as my FOIA request was just to the Pennsylvania DCNR, next up will be an information request to the FBI.

Don't expect definitive answers from them either, as the process can be a treasure hunt in and of itself. Jay Sekulow (of the American Center for Law and Justice) has made a career of filing FOIA requests and taking on the government. He says that many times you will get back a stack of nothing documents and have to really sift through them, finding one word or name that can trigger another FOIA request for the additional documents. They have a whole legal staff that examines what gets returned, and the government has a whole staff that tries to limit what they provide.
 

GoDeep

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Don't expect definitive answers from them either, as the process can be a treasure hunt in and of itself. Jay Sekulow (of the American Center for Law and Justice) has made a career of filing FOIA requests and taking on the government. He says that many times you will get back a stack of nothing documents and have to really sift through them, finding one word or name that can trigger another FOIA request for the additional documents. They have a whole legal staff that examines what gets returned, and the government has a whole staff that tries to limit what they provide.

Yes, that sounds about right. I've read it's a real art to specifying and drilling down to exactly what you want. General search terms get one nada. I can't exactly blame them and I don't think it's necessarily a conspiracy to hide anything. Those taking your requests have a daunting task and if you don't know exactly what you are looking for, they aren't just going to send you out thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of pages as they'd be there all year just trying to fill one request.
 

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MiddenMonster

MiddenMonster

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Yes, that sounds about right. I've read it's a real art to specifying and drilling down to exactly what you want. General search terms get one nada. I can't exactly blame them and I don't think it's necessarily a conspiracy to hide anything. Those taking your requests have a daunting task and if you don't know exactly what you are looking for, they aren't just going to send you out thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of pages as they'd be there all year just trying to fill one request.

You also have to parse the words of their response. When they use phrases like "date range you specified" it could mean that they have records, but you missed the range by 1 day. They might send you a list of incoming/outgoing phone numbers that mean nothing unless you know one is assigned to the Treasury. They you would have to file a completely different FOIA request with them, and the process starts all over again. If the response you receive has the phrase, "no records matching your request" it means their lawyers parsed your request and found a loophole in the way you worded it. If you want some interesting reading, check out how much the ACLJ had to work to get the IRS to comply with their FOIA request a few years ago:

ACLJ FOIA Request

They had to file a lawsuit just to get the IRS to provide the documents, and even then it was like pulling teeth...or herding cats.
 

Eldo

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@GoDeep you friends of the Paradas?

He already has tried to file for one and will probably be making a post here about it when he gets the paperwork back, but that seems to be dragged out. He sent me the email they sent him about the timeframe.

He was requesting all files and they said something like 4 years to get a copy made of all of it.

Strange thing IMO is the time it takes.....they found the files and counted them so they know where they are and how many, and now they will have to take 4 years to photocopy them?

I don't get it.....4 years to read through them all and redact and edit what they want probably is what the delay is.

Any way you look at it he has made it through numerous stages in his trials so far and every one has gone uncontested because they rigged the entire area with Deer Cams and caught them red handed

He has even sent his friends the pics showing their digging machinery, crews, and their retrieval of buried items that were removed and covered. All on film.

The only thing that they can do now is try to ignore it and Denis is not giving up.....he caught them in the act and has their statements on paper denying 1) that they dug at all and 2) that they retrieved anything from it

He also has the statements from others that witnessed the Armored Trucks on the property when the dig was taking place.

How are you going to defend that on a suspicion of being a story he's making up.....?

You don't bring in 4 Armored Trucks because you have been on a site for 3 months and you haven't found anything.....they brought them in to rob the site.

The FBI showed up because a member of the DCNR, who's employment ended with them, was found coring a sample out of the area after he was no longer employed there. Denis reported the affair to the Govt and the Courts that watched after his permits the whole time that he was there. When the FBI came in they took control over the site and claimed because there was a trespass and illegal attempt to dig there by the ex-DCNR employee, that they could lock down the site and declare the whole thing a crime scene.

To tie up the site for 3 months to investigate one trespasser, you don't bring in excavation equipment and armored trucks. You cite the man for being a potential criminal that was trying to get a location for the deposit on his own, having seen the info and the scans taken of the area on record as he did.

And they were setting up the transfer across the border with a Canadian Mining Corp called Kinross Gold Company during that 3 months, prepping for the exchange in Russia to launder the stuff into their normal shipments.

You don't get away with this sort of thing and leave no trace....there are dozens of people that saw the heist and reporters from all over the country that he spoke to about this....even some foreign links to articles about it all

View attachment 1817977

View attachment 1817978
 

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dts52

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Dennis firmly believe this story and spend many years in research and searching. Each to their own, but I always do contracts or lose treasures and maybe my life. Also I believe that most pro treasure hunters do contracts. Yes, you all know that I pay Connecticut and federal taxes because that the law and I am too old to spent the rest on my life in jail.

Do you mean that I’m supposed to declare my pull tab horde as income on my state tax return? Shhh! Let’s keep it secret. :occasion14:
dts
 

GoDeep

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@GoDeep you friends of the Paradas?

He already has tried to file for one and will probably be making a post here about it when he gets the paperwork back, but that seems to be dragged out. He sent me the email they sent him about the timeframe.

He was requesting all files and they said something like 4 years to get a copy made of all of it.

Strange thing IMO is the time it takes.....they found the files and counted them so they know where they are and how many, and now they will have to take 4 years to photocopy them?

I don't get it.....4 years to read through them all and redact and edit what they want probably is what the delay is.

Any way you look at it he has made it through numerous stages in his trials so far and every one has gone uncontested because they rigged the entire area with Deer Cams and caught them red handed

He has even sent his friends the pics showing their digging machinery, crews, and their retrieval of buried items that were removed and covered. All on film.

The only thing that they can do now is try to ignore it and Denis is not giving up.....he caught them in the act and has their statements on paper denying 1) that they dug at all and 2) that they retrieved anything from it

He also has the statements from others that witnessed the Armored Trucks on the property when the dig was taking place.

How are you going to defend that on a suspicion of being a story he's making up.....?

You don't bring in 4 Armored Trucks because you have been on a site for 3 months and you haven't found anything.....they brought them in to rob the site.

The FBI showed up because a member of the DCNR, who's employment ended with them, was found coring a sample out of the area after he was no longer employed there. Denis reported the affair to the Govt and the Courts that watched after his permits the whole time that he was there. When the FBI came in they took control over the site and claimed because there was a trespass and illegal attempt to dig there by the ex-DCNR employee, that they could lock down the site and declare the whole thing a crime scene.

To tie up the site for 3 months to investigate one trespasser, you don't bring in excavation equipment and armored trucks. You cite the man for being a potential criminal that was trying to get a location for the deposit on his own, having seen the info and the scans taken of the area on record as he did.

And they were setting up the transfer across the border with a Canadian Mining Corp called Kinross Gold Company during that 3 months, prepping for the exchange in Russia to launder the stuff into their normal shipments.

You don't get away with this sort of thing and leave no trace....there are dozens of people that saw the heist and reporters from all over the country that he spoke to about this....even some foreign links to articles about it all

View attachment 1817977

View attachment 1817978

All this has been asked and answered and countered Ad nauseum over several threads the past few years....
 

Goodyguy

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Sounds to me like the Paradas never heard the Doc Noss story.
 

Honest Samuel

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Do you mean that I’m supposed to declare my pull tab horde as income on my state tax return? Shhh! Let’s keep it secret. :occasion14:
dts
Only when you sell the horde for profit. Most likely, no profits, but a sore back from bending over picking up all the tabs.
 

Beadman

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If this treasure was on "state land"....there's their first problem,....it's very very hard to get permission to "treasure hunt"....on any state or federal land ,let alone dig....and if you try to even dig or even take a metal detector in there ilegally...you will be in the back of a police car... For anything that's old ,let alone GOLD.....does any of this suprise any of you...it shouldn't....common sense applies here....too bad there's notuch of that left anymore lol
 

Honest Samuel

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The treasure hunters did not get any written contracts with the FBI, Pa. state government or any government or groups or persons. Shame on them. Now, they are sorry. Also, read # 5, & # 7.
 

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