Care to share your legal opinions on this?

[Clay Diggins]

Battlefield Detecting

 

[ARC]

Its theft.
Period.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Its illegal, it's theft and gives all detectorists a bad name....

 

[Oddjob]

There are no legal opinions on this that matter in a court of law. The perps trespassed, vandalized a historical site, stole cultural property.

Only opinion I would consider is an extra charge of conspiracy to traffic illicit cultural property. Sadly the US or DOJ is not very big on that one as it brings a life sentence; and even if the DA was considering such a charge the perps would a cut a deal real fast to avoid taking their chances.

8 year tops, but I figure they will only see 3 years at best. Its a good story and can fuel some fires, but it is fires in communities that many do not care about at all. They are fast to throw a treasure hunter under the bus when they do something this bad and provide tons of PR. Now let a treasure hunter find something of greater value historically and donate it to a place that could study it and learn from if to share with the world and that treasure hunter would maybe at best get some cool points on someones blog or a crappy news channel.

But at least the US has such laws, they are among a minority of nations. Many nations do not even set such laws in place until a crime has happened; just like what the Taliban did in Kabul. The world had to settle with hunting and killing them for other reasons.

 

[kcm]

I think this is the 4th thread on this incident in the past 2-3 days. Still makes me furious!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I have forumite "skippy" to thank for this following stroke of genius :

There's been a lot of threads linking to the CNN story of the battlefield looters at a CW site. And after a close reading, you notice that an arriving employee in the morning saw holes. And surmised "aha! MD'rs!".

But has anyone given any thought to perhaps there is another explanation ? Consider the following true story that happened near me :

There was a "B.O.L." issued to all the employees, and museum docents, of Monterey, CA (and the police, rangers, etc....). To be on the lookout for illegal metal detecting at the lower presidio park. This is a sensitive historic federal monument in Monterey, CA. The email alert that I was CC'd into (because I'm a docent there) explained that holes had been spotted, that were determined to have been dug by someone(s) with a metal detector.

It wasn't me. But my heart sunk anyhow. Because the head curator of the cultural arts dept. at the city hall, knows my hobby is detecting.

HOWEVER: A few months later, it was determined that it was the BOYSCOUTS (who have their little meeting lodge hall nearby) had been conducting geo-caching hobby exercises. And had apparently left ruffled marks in the turf. So md'ing was NOT the reason, despite the dire-sounding earlier notice.

 

[kcm]

I haven't been a BSoA fan for a long time.

 

[austin]

Yeah, down right, low life skunks, robbers, thieves, probably liberals whose parents were no count shifty bar flies. So yeah, pretty much what others said first...

 

[kcm]

Yeah, down right, low life skunks, robbers, thieves, probably liberals whose parents were no count shifty bar flies. So yeah, pretty much what others said first...

Not necessarily. There's a world chock-full of people who just don't care. They live their lives and to hell with anyone else.

 

[Honest Samuel]

The federal parks and battle fields are off limit to all metal detecting and any type of digging. There are many signs stating the same thing. Let these decease people rest in peace.

 

[Oddjob]

Yeah, down right, low life skunks, robbers, thieves, probably liberals whose parents were no count shifty bar flies. So yeah, pretty much what others said first...

You should not hold in all those feelings, tell us how you really feel.