Post by Okwes on May 22, 2008 12:09:00 GMT -5
Man accused in illegal dig for artifacts Shop owner - Phillip Fields of
Bly is accused of looting Native items and trying to sell them
Sunday, May 18, 2008
www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1210996512\
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2240860.xml&coll=7>
The government is accusing the owner of a Lakeview secondhand store of
taking part in a conspiracy to illegally dig for Native American
artifacts in the Deschutes National Forest, part of a vast federal
investigation of antiquities thefts in Oregon.
A three-count indictment Thursday in Eugene accuses Phillip G. Fields,
65, of Bly of excavating an archaeological site, damaging government
property and conspiring to excavate, remove and sell archaeological
resources illegally taken from federal lands.
Thursday's indictment marked the second time government agents had
accused Fields of looting Native American artifacts in the Deschutes
National Forest. Fields served a short federal prison sentence in 1985
for digging up Cascade projectile points at the forest's China Hat
archaeological site.
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The latest charges against Fields took shape in 2002, when a government
informant told authorities that part of Fields' stolen cache from the
China Hat looting remained in private hands, according to federal court
papers.
"Fields told the (informant) that he had to be careful because the
'Feds' would try to set him up," according to the papers. "Fields
assured the (informant) that the artifact black market was alive and
well and that he was presently dealing with millionaires who would buy
anything of antiquity."
Federal agents in 2005 searched Fields' business, The Second Hand Store,
seizing some of the more than 100,000 artifacts confiscated as part of
"Operation Bring 'Em Back," a five-year federal investigation of illegal
trafficking in Native American antiquities and remains. The joint Forest
Service-Bureau of Land Management investigation implicated dozens of
diggers, collectors and their associates in the high-desert scrub of
central Oregon.
Fields could not be reached Friday for comment.
Bly is accused of looting Native items and trying to sell them
Sunday, May 18, 2008
www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1210996512\
240860.xml&coll=7
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/121099651\
2240860.xml&coll=7>
The government is accusing the owner of a Lakeview secondhand store of
taking part in a conspiracy to illegally dig for Native American
artifacts in the Deschutes National Forest, part of a vast federal
investigation of antiquities thefts in Oregon.
A three-count indictment Thursday in Eugene accuses Phillip G. Fields,
65, of Bly of excavating an archaeological site, damaging government
property and conspiring to excavate, remove and sell archaeological
resources illegally taken from federal lands.
Thursday's indictment marked the second time government agents had
accused Fields of looting Native American artifacts in the Deschutes
National Forest. Fields served a short federal prison sentence in 1985
for digging up Cascade projectile points at the forest's China Hat
archaeological site.
<http://ads.oregonlive.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.oregonlive.com\
/xml/story/lc/lcg/@storyad?x>
The latest charges against Fields took shape in 2002, when a government
informant told authorities that part of Fields' stolen cache from the
China Hat looting remained in private hands, according to federal court
papers.
"Fields told the (informant) that he had to be careful because the
'Feds' would try to set him up," according to the papers. "Fields
assured the (informant) that the artifact black market was alive and
well and that he was presently dealing with millionaires who would buy
anything of antiquity."
Federal agents in 2005 searched Fields' business, The Second Hand Store,
seizing some of the more than 100,000 artifacts confiscated as part of
"Operation Bring 'Em Back," a five-year federal investigation of illegal
trafficking in Native American antiquities and remains. The joint Forest
Service-Bureau of Land Management investigation implicated dozens of
diggers, collectors and their associates in the high-desert scrub of
central Oregon.
Fields could not be reached Friday for comment.