Emails: FBI was looking for gold at Pennsylvania dig site

[dognose]

by: MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press
Posted: Mar 8, 2021 / 04:51 PM EST / Updated: Mar 8, 2021 / 04:51 PM EST
Go for the gold? The U.S. government went for it.


FBI agents were looking for an extremely valuable cache of fabled Civil War-era gold – possibly tons of it – when they excavated a remote woodland site in Pennsylvania three years ago this month, according to government emails and other recently released documents in the case.


On March 13, 2018, treasure hunters led the FBI to Dent’s Run, about 135 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh, where legend has it an 1863 shipment of Union gold was either lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.


The FBI has long refused to confirm why exactly it went digging, saying only in written statements over the years that agents were there for a court-authorized excavation of “what evidence suggested may have been a cultural heritage site.”


In any event, the FBI says, the dig came up empty.


But the father-son duo who brought a small army of federal agents to the site remain convinced the FBI uncovered something there – and their lawyer, Bill Cluck, is still pressing the case, successfully suing for access to government emails about the dig.


Those documents, which Cluck provided to The Associated Press, show that federal law enforcement was indeed after buried treasure.


“We believe the cache itself is in the neighborhood of 3x5x8 (feet) to 5x5x8,” wrote K.T. Newton, an assistant U.S attorney in Philadelphia, in a 2018 email marked “Confidential.”


Since the Elk County site was on state-owned land, the FBI had to secure a federal court order to gain access. The legal maneuvering generated emails between Newton and Audrey Miner, chief lawyer for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.


On March 13, as FBI agents clambered up a hill to the target, Miner bluntly asked Newton: “Can you please provide the basis upon which the Office of the United States Attorney asserts that the gold, if found, belongs to the federal government?”


Newton replied that a federal affidavit in the case was sealed. She instead offered to “discuss this generally with you on the phone,” according to email records released by the state under court order.


The federal government followed a well-worn path to the woods of northwestern Pennsylvania, where legendary tales of buried Civil War gold had inspired generations of treasure hunters – including Dennis and Kem Parada.


The Paradas, who co-own the treasure-hunting outfit Finders Keepers, had spent years looking for the long-lost booty before going to the FBI with their evidence in January 2018, saying their sophisticated detector had registered a hunk of metal they suspected was the gold of lore.


Within weeks, the FBI hired geophysical consulting firm Enviroscan to survey the hilltop site. Enviroscan’s gravimeter also indicated a large metallic mass with the density of gold, according to Warren Getler, who worked closely with the Paradas and the FBI.


An FBI agent told them the location of the mass was “one or two feet off Denny’s sweet spot,” recalled Getler, author of “Rebel Gold,” a book exploring the possibility of buried Civil War-era caches of gold and silver. “Then I went to ask how big is it. And he said, ‘7 to 9 tons.’ And I literally said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’”


That much gold would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars today – and, assuming it was there, would almost certainly touch off a legal fight over how to divvy up the spoils.


Enviroscan co-founder Timothy Bechtel declined comment to the AP about what his instruments detected, citing client confidentiality. Bechtel said the FBI has asked him to keep quiet about his findings.


John Louie, a geophysics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, unconnected to the dig, said the gravimeter is a powerful tool that can yield important clues about what’s underground.


“But it doesn’t prove it,” he said. “It doesn’t make any elemental analysis. It’s indicative, it’s suggestive, but it can’t prove it.”


To prove it, the FBI needed to dig.


The Paradas and Getler have previously said they had an agreement with the FBI to watch the excavation. Officers instead confined them to their car for most of the dig, then, at the end of the second and final day, escorted them to the site – by that time a large, empty hole.


The FBI has long been adamant that whatever the agents were looking for, they didn’t find it.


“The FBI unequivocally rejects any claims or speculation to the contrary,” a spokesperson said last week.


On March 16, 2018, two days after the dig ended, Newton emailed Miner that “we are all disappointed and scratching our heads over the several scientific test results.”


It’s unclear what she meant, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia said last week it considers the matter to be closed.


The dig drew plenty of media attention at the time. On March 28, Miner asked Newton for an update on the federal investigation, telling her “the gold story still has legs, and the DCNR is now getting a lot of ‘gold-diggers’ interested in Dent’s Run.”


In her reply, Newton told Miner: “For your knowledge only … we have no other scientific evidence, other than what the excavation had been based on, that any gold is hidden in that area.”


Miner emailed back: “I guess you can’t come right out and state there is no gold to be found at Dent’s Run?”


“Unfortunately, we cannot,” the prosecutor replied.


Through a spokesperson, Miner declined comment.


Three years later, the Dent’s Run story is not likely to go away, government denials notwithstanding. The Paradas and Getler are planning a news conference on Wednesday to keep the spotlight on their claims. Residents have told of hearing a backhoe and jackhammer overnight – when the excavation was supposed to have been paused – and seeing a convoy of FBI vehicles, including large armored trucks.


“I gotta find out what happened to all that gold,” Dennis Parada said in a phone interview last week.


The FBI assertion of an empty hole is “insulting all the credible people who did this kind of work,” he said. “It was a slap in the face, really, to think all these people could make that kind of mistake.”


Cluck, meanwhile, is still pursuing government material on the case – nearly 2,400 pages, as well as video files, that the FBI has promised to turn over in response to his Freedom of Information Act request.


All documents in the federal court case about the dig remain sealed. For that reason, a state appeals judge recently declined to order the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to give Cluck the federal writ of entry and seizure warrant that the FBI agents relied on to gain access to the site.


In rejecting Cluck’s petition, though, state Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson left a tantalizing clue. In a footnote of his Jan. 28 opinion, Brobson revealed, for the first time, the name of the sealed federal case:


“In the Matter of: Seizure of One or More Tons of United States Gold.”

https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/emails-fbi-was-looking-for-gold-at-pennsylvania-dig-site/

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Correct me if I am wrong, but no new information has come to light?

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Correct me if I am wrong, but no new information has come to light?

There is a planned press conference soon...

 

[gemee]

I am happy that they are pursuing this,..instead of most people who would just fade away..

 

[SD51]

There is a planned press conference soon...

The Paradas and Getler are planning a news conference on Wednesday to keep the spotlight on their claims.

 

[3cylbill]

One thing for sure is you can trust everything the government tells you ...where is the film of the dig ? As far as never being able to hide the truth because there was dozens of people there just look at the thousands of people that built the A bomb and KEPT that secret..the war our government handled this is sickening.....

 

[GoDeep]

Correct me if I am wrong, but no new information has come to light?

Though most of the article is just a rehash, it appears more evidence has come to light, further supporting that no treasure was found.


1. The article states that they (the press) were provided copies of some emails between the PA DCNR counsel (Audrey Miner) and the FBI counsel(K.T. Newton)

In pertinent part:

-On March 16, 2018, two days after the dig ended, Newton (FBI) emailed Miner (PA DCNR) that “we are all disappointed and scratching our heads over the several scientific test results.” They (the FBI and counsel for the FBI) were disappointed as the scientific tests (notably the Enviroscan), indicated something was there and per their statement, they came up empty handed. Welcome to the world of ground scans FBI, anyone on T-net could have told you they provide plenty of false readings.

-On March 28, Miner (Pa DCNR) asked Newton(FBI) for an update on the federal investigation, telling him/her “the gold story still has legs, and the DCNR is now getting a lot of ‘gold-diggers’ interested in Dent’s Run.”

-Newton (FBI) replied "“For your knowledge only … we have no other scientific evidence, other than what the excavation had been based on, that any gold is hidden in that area.” Again, the FBI is confirming that they have no scientific evidence beyond the original scans that the the dig was based upon.

-Miner(Pa DCNR) emailed back: “I guess you can’t come right out and state there is no gold to be found at Dent’s Run?” Pay careful attention to that wording. Miner isn't asking if gold was found, Miner is asking if "there is no gold to be found", ...."to be", is future tense, meaning there could still be gold somewhere out there at Dent's run.

-Newton (FBI) replied "“Unfortunately, we cannot,” Confirming, yes, it could still be out there somewhere. I hypothesized this in some of my earlier commentary, that the reason the investiagtion is still ongoing, is because they are still looking or they uncovered other clues, perhaps even other crimes.

2. - According to the article, they reached out to the FBI a week ago and the FBI again confirmed they found nothing: “The FBI unequivocally rejects any claims or speculation to the contrary,” a spokesperson said last week.

3. - The article states that Enviroscan only detected a large metallic mass consistent with the density of gold, not that they "found gold". This is a very critical distinction.

-Furthermore, John Louie, a geophysics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, unconnected to the dig, said the gravimeter is a powerful tool that can yield important clues about what’s underground.

“But it doesn’t prove it,” he said. “It doesn’t make any elemental analysis. It’s indicative, it’s suggestive, but it can’t prove it.” This is consistent with my conversation with Enviroscan, as they indicated their scanners do not positively indicate metal type and that they can give false readings.

We as treasure hunters, know about false readings all to well.

 

[Armstrong]

Those guys should have put up some trail cams in the trees.

 

[3cylbill]

How did 26 fifty pound bars of gold hidden in a false bottom wagon turn into ten tons of gold ? Since when are pictures on trail cams absolut proof of no gold ? dozens of men milling around would have ran the cameras out very fast. The cameras were set up to see if anybody was there when nobody was around. Email sent claiming that no gold was found , is not proof. no photos of gold ? how is that proof of ..no gold the fact is they made Mr Prada sit in his car then made him leave at 4pm and dug and jack hammered all nite hidden behind a tent. As far as no proof of the mission, think about that for a minute . War just broke out , tens of thousands of men were just killed . Why would you have written orders of sending a small platoon of men delivering gold for prying eyes to read and have your enemy knowing what your doing. I am not saying there was anything found nobody knows except the FBI and all they had to do was let the man that sent them to the site watch the dig like the promised ...

 

[Silverindahole]

Pretty sure the government has access to tech that can find a large chunk of metal deep in the ground, drill down to it to be sure and then dig it up and cart it away. Gotta be someone out there who had the stones to use a drone at least? If the last comment is true and the judge did name it that then I think its a no brainer...JMO

 

[GoDeep]

How did 26 fifty pound bars of gold hidden in a false bottom wagon turn into ten tons of gold ? Since when are pictures on trail cams absolut proof of no gold ? dozens of men milling around would have ran the cameras out very fast. The cameras were set up to see if anybody was there when nobody was around. Email sent claiming that no gold was found , is not proof. no photos of gold ? how is that proof of ..no gold the fact is they made Mr Prada sit in his car then made him leave at 4pm and dug and jack hammered all nite hidden behind a tent. As far as no proof of the mission, think about that for a minute . War just broke out , tens of thousands of men were just killed . Why would you have written orders of sending a small platoon of men delivering gold for prying eyes to read and have your enemy knowing what your doing. I am not saying there was anything found nobody knows except the FBI and all they had to do was let the man that sent them to the site watch the dig like the promised ...

First, FK has never claimed in the intervening 3 years since the dig was executed that the camera's ran out despite multiple opportunities to do so, in point of fact, he even posted some night time photo's from the cameras. Nine tons of mass being removed from the ground would not have escaped the view of cameras.

No, it's not absolute proof, no one claimed it was, but it is one more piece of circumstantial evidence.

Second, as far as emails from 2 days after the dig of FBI counsel and PA DCNR counsel discussing nothing being found at the dig? These emails are a small part of exactly what FK has been trying to obtain for years in the hopes that they'd have discussed in private about gold being found, yet they actually say the opposite, that they were disappointed nothing was found which is yet another piece of circumstantial evidence.

Third, yes, the FBI denying yet again last week that they didn't find anything is evidence. Testimony is evidence. Sure, they can lie. But if they are liars, then you'd also have to accept that if they'd said "Yes" we found gold, that this is also a lie. You can't just pick and choose which answers they give as being truthful or lies based on what narrative you want to fulfill. You have to test the credibility of their statement against the other evidence uncovered to date and so far, it supports their statement as being truthful.

All we can do is put the evidence together we have so far, and so far, it's indicating that no gold was found.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

One thing that is certain...there was some incredible convincing that took place in order for the FBI to go to the extremes they did, unless they were actually investigating a potential federal crime that was suspected of having occurred (past or present). Perhaps they had reason to believe gold was retrieved prior and they were looking for evidence of that? All we can do is speculate.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

“How did 26 fifty pound bars of gold hidden in a false bottom wagon turn into ten tons of gold ?”

Shhhh

 

[Old Bookaroo]

I have looked into several of these yarns about lost Civil War loot - gold bars, missing payrolls, the Great Missing Confederate Treasure Saga, et. al - and the rock upon which they have all foundered is in plain view: Where did the gold come from? The U.S. Government was meticulous about documentation. For example - US Army paymasters were required to insert a provision into their wills that their estates could not be closed until their government accounts had been settled.

If you've looked into the stories about the Lost Confederate Treasury, you must be struck by how careful those gentlemen were with all that money - even as the war was ending and their world was collapsing around their ears.

Just take a step back. Anyone responsible for a few thousand dollars - let alone hundreds of thousands, or millions - is going to expect that some folks are going to try to grab some of it. Now, an obvious exception is the US government in relatively recent years sending a couple of airplane loads of shrink-wrapped pallets of cash to the Middle East. But, as the saying goes, the exception proves the rule.

I've read a great deal about this particular story - and the original question remains. "Where did the gold come from?"

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo