lostcauses
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- Feb 4, 2008
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"Two plead guilty in artifacts trafficking
By Patty Henetz
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 03/30/2010 12:56:42 AM MDT
A Moab man who sold archaeological artifacts to a confidential source working for the FBI three years ago pleaded guilty Monday to two felonies - and so did the woman who brought the two men together.
Brent Bullock, 61, admitted to U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball that he illegally sold a blanket scrap, a digging tool and a fire board to the federal source and offered to sell ceramic figurines, all of which were stolen from public land. Moab resident Tammy Shumway, 40, who introduced the undercover operative to Bullock, also pleaded guilty to two felonies. Bullock and Shumway are the third and fourth defendants of 26 netted in a sweeping raid on June 10. The arrests followed a 2½-year probe into illegal artifacts-trafficking across the Four Corners region, an investigation stained by the suicides of two defendants and the source himself, Ted Gardiner of Salt Lake County.
Bullock and Shumway are scheduled for sentencing July 7. They face maximum potential fines of $500,000 each, plus up to 10 years in prison. After the hearing, federal officials declined to say whether they expect further guilty pleas in the case. But defense attorney Earl Xaiz told Kimball he discussed the impact of Gardiner's March 1 suicide with Bullock and determined the prosecutors had enough evidence to convict even without Gardiner's court testimony.
"They have other witnesses in our case," Xaiz said after the hearing. Gardiner, a successful business executive with extensive ties
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to the Salt Lake City business community, was an artifacts dealer when he contacted the FBI in 2006 and offered to go undercover to stop illegal trade. Fitted with an audio-visual device and observed by other agents, he recorded thousands of hours of conversations and transactions with dealers in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Xaiz said Bullock displayed the blanket scrap, fire board and digging tool in a frame on his living-room wall where anyone could see them, but Bullock did not dig them up himself.
"He never offered to sell them to anyone before," Xaiz said. "It was a financial issue ... He was introduced to someone who was looking for things to buy."
Though Kimball characterized Shumway's part in the crime as a "minor role," because she abetted the transaction, she's just as guilty, said her lawyer, Fred Metos.
Bullock also admitted trying to get Gardiner to buy the figurines, which court papers say Bullock reckoned could be up to 2,500 years old. Xaiz said Gardiner didn't buy them, nor did the figurines turn up in a search of Bullock's house.
Bullock declined to comment when he left the courthouse with Xaiz. Shumway - the widow of Earl Shumway, convicted 15 years ago of looting graves for artifacts to sell - also declined comment as she left the courthouse alone.'
"Two plead guilty in artifacts trafficking
By Patty Henetz
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 03/30/2010 12:56:42 AM MDT
A Moab man who sold archaeological artifacts to a confidential source working for the FBI three years ago pleaded guilty Monday to two felonies - and so did the woman who brought the two men together.
Brent Bullock, 61, admitted to U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball that he illegally sold a blanket scrap, a digging tool and a fire board to the federal source and offered to sell ceramic figurines, all of which were stolen from public land. Moab resident Tammy Shumway, 40, who introduced the undercover operative to Bullock, also pleaded guilty to two felonies. Bullock and Shumway are the third and fourth defendants of 26 netted in a sweeping raid on June 10. The arrests followed a 2½-year probe into illegal artifacts-trafficking across the Four Corners region, an investigation stained by the suicides of two defendants and the source himself, Ted Gardiner of Salt Lake County.
Bullock and Shumway are scheduled for sentencing July 7. They face maximum potential fines of $500,000 each, plus up to 10 years in prison. After the hearing, federal officials declined to say whether they expect further guilty pleas in the case. But defense attorney Earl Xaiz told Kimball he discussed the impact of Gardiner's March 1 suicide with Bullock and determined the prosecutors had enough evidence to convict even without Gardiner's court testimony.
"They have other witnesses in our case," Xaiz said after the hearing. Gardiner, a successful business executive with extensive ties
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to the Salt Lake City business community, was an artifacts dealer when he contacted the FBI in 2006 and offered to go undercover to stop illegal trade. Fitted with an audio-visual device and observed by other agents, he recorded thousands of hours of conversations and transactions with dealers in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Xaiz said Bullock displayed the blanket scrap, fire board and digging tool in a frame on his living-room wall where anyone could see them, but Bullock did not dig them up himself.
"He never offered to sell them to anyone before," Xaiz said. "It was a financial issue ... He was introduced to someone who was looking for things to buy."
Though Kimball characterized Shumway's part in the crime as a "minor role," because she abetted the transaction, she's just as guilty, said her lawyer, Fred Metos.
Bullock also admitted trying to get Gardiner to buy the figurines, which court papers say Bullock reckoned could be up to 2,500 years old. Xaiz said Gardiner didn't buy them, nor did the figurines turn up in a search of Bullock's house.
Bullock declined to comment when he left the courthouse with Xaiz. Shumway - the widow of Earl Shumway, convicted 15 years ago of looting graves for artifacts to sell - also declined comment as she left the courthouse alone.'
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