Murphy charged with felony theft

As reported earlier*, Nate Murphy has been accused of stealing fossils from private land in Montana. Charges have officially been brought against Mr. Murphy for the theft of a small theropod skeleton. The New York Times reported today that Mr. Murphy has in fact been charged with felony theft after a year long investigation. The story begins in 2002 during an excavation in Montana, where Australian geologist, Mark Thompson, was a participant. He discovered the remains of a small theropod with Mr. Murphy, who is reported as asking Mr. Thompson to not report the find to Joann and Howard Hammond, with whom Murphy had a profit-sharing arrangement to excavate on their land. Mr. Murphy claims that he did not know the land he was working on did not belong to the Hammond family, but rather was leased from Bruce Bruckner, making the agreement with the Hammond’s void for the land where the fossils were found. Mr. Thompson did not tell the Hammonds about his discovery, but did show pictures and fossil remains taken from the site to paleontologist Robert Bakker.

In 2006 when Mr. Murphy took a specimen of a fossil turtle to the Dinosaur Field Station (now the Great Plains Museum) he told colleagues he found it near Saco, Montana (25 miles away). According to Murphy, it was not until later he discovered the remains of the small theropod under the turtle specimen, which he called “Sid Vicious.” Thompson contacted the Hammonds in 2007 when he heard about the discovery of “Sid Vicious.” The Hammonds contacted Mr. Bruckner, who them filled a complaint. Later, Mr. Murphy admitted to finding the fossil (fossils?) on Mr. Bruckner’s land and that he made a mistake in assuming he was on land he had an agreement to work on. Now Murphy is facing felony theft charges, to which he says he “has no choice but to plead guilty to…” A trial is set for March.

*Read some of the comments on the previous blog post as they are interesting and tell more of the story. The links are in the first sentence of this post.

The New York Times article is behind a registration wall, but can be read once registration is completed (and it is free). The above is paraphrased from Jim Robbins' New York Times article "Instead of Glory, the Finder of a Rare Dinosaur Fossil Faces Charges of Theft" and credit should be given to him for the reporting of this update. Thanks to the multiple people who brought this update in the story to my attention.

More on Maltagate (or the continued saga of Nate Murphy vs. Judith River Dinosaur Foundation/Great Plains Dinosaur Museum/JoAnn and Howard Hammond)

More news on the latest paleo-controversy of the year. This is an article that was published in yesterdays Great Falls Tribune. It is a long article, but worth a read, as are the comments (as always), so please feel free to visit their website to read the full article. Items below in green are my own words and not thoughts of Ms. Skornogoski:

Fossil hunter digs up more controversy

By KIM SKORNOGOSKI
Great Falls Tribune Staff Writer

"This summer, fossil hunter Nate Murphy and his crew carefully unearthed three stegosaurus skeletons discovered on a ranch near Grass Range.

Unlike his past dinosaur digs — including the one that unearthed Malta's famed mummy duckbill, Leonardo — Murphy's finds aren't destined for a Montana museum.

The nonprofit Judith River Dinosaur Foundation, which is affiliated with Malta's new Great Plains Dinosaur Museum, cut ties with Murphy in July 2007, after state and federal agents began investigating him for allegedly stealing dinosaurs. Last month, he was charged in Phillips County District Court with stealing a turkey-sized raptor.

However, through his private company, the Judith River Dinosaur Institute, Murphy continues to recruit volunteer scientists along with amateur fossil fans who shell out $1,600 each to spend a week digging by his side.

Some paleontologists fear that he is drawing a fuzzy line with the name of his company. They say it could mislead private landowners who allow fossil hunters on their property with the intent that any dinosaurs discovered be displayed in a Montana museum.

"I think a lot of people are still confused," said Bob Bakker, paleontologist and curator of the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, which currently hosts Leonardo. "You can't continue to have a for-profit operation with the smokescreen of a nonprofit organization.

"Good-hearted people are donating their time and pay a fee for the privilege of digging — that's reprehensible to have a name like that. There's nothing wrong with running a commercial operation, but they have to be very clear about what they do," Bakker added.

Murphy says his intention always is to keep his finds in Montana.

He recently bought a warehouse in Billings and is working to create a new Dino Lab, much like the converted garage he operated at the Dinosaur Field Station in Malta. Murphy said his plan is to eventually keep the stegosaurus finds there.

Grass Range rancher David Hein, whose family owns the land where the stegosaurus skeletons were found, wouldn't detail his arrangement with Murphy, but said he is confident the dinosaurs will stay in the state.

"We have found Nate to be very honest and honorable in all his dealings with us," Hein said. "We consider him a friend."

Malta ranchers JoAnn and Howard Hammond had similar opinions of Murphy for the 16 years he brought dig crews onto their land. Once they learned of the criminal allegations, the Hammonds betrayed, they said, and tried to warn other landowners.

Grass Range rancher Merril Klakken said the Hammonds' worries didn't concern him, so he let Murphy dig on his land in the summer.

"When we made the agreement, the bones were to go to the Judith River Foundation in Malta and remain there," Klakken said. "Now, when we saw him this summer, Nate said he had a warehouse lined up in Billings to take these bones to. I don't know what's going to happen."

The fossils found on Klakken's property are stored in his shed, but they belong to Murphy by contract. Klakken will get 10 percent of any money made from replicas.

Sue Frary, the director of programs and exhibits at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum, said any claims that fossils found by Murphy and his commercial customers will go to Malta are false.

"We would not accept any fossils from him, nor do we have any affiliation with him," she said. "We do realize that he's continuing his dig programs, but we have no idea where those fossils are going."

In the current criminal case, prosecutors allege that Murphy lied about where he found a rare raptor, which is estimated to be worth between $150,000 and $400,000.

Prosecutors say Murphy told paleontologists two stories: first, that he found the raptor in Saco and, later, that it was hidden under a fossilized turtle found on the Hammonds' land and was discovered in the lab.

The original location of the raptor fossil is important because, in the United States, whoever owns the land, owns the dinosaur.

Court documents state that Murphy shipped the raptor to the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota to have molds and casts made.

Bakker said commercial sellers can make far more money from replicas than from selling the original fossils.

On his company's Web site, Murphy writes that he is working to create a new nonprofit organization, the Little Snowy Mountain Dinosaur Project, where people could send tax deductible donations to get the new Dino Lab up and running.

"Because he was forced out of Malta after having done everything for those people up there, he's starting all over again," Hein said.

Most of Murphy's great finds draw crowds to Malta's new museum, which opened in June. The dinosaur that made him famous, the duckbill Leonardo, now stars in a year-long special exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences and is the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary.

Leonardo is considered the world's best preserved dinosaur because his skin and organs — even his last meal — are intact. Scientists believe he could hold answers to questions about what the world was like 77 million years ago.

Murphy said Leonardo's fame made Murphy the target of paleontologists who questioned his credentials because he doesn't have a doctorate. It also made people start seeing dollar signs.

"I do what I love to do — it's never been about money," he said. "Even though, later on, other people put price tags on these dinosaurs, I've never cared about the money."

Depending on who's telling the story, Murphy either volunteered or was pushed to sign over his partial ownership of all the fossils found on the Hammonds' land from his private institute to the similarly named nonprofit foundation.

Murphy said he learned his lesson and now he specifies in his contracts with landowners before he begins digging that he has controlling interest in the specimens.

In dinosaur and ancient antiquity hotspots such as China, Egypt, Israel and Mongolia, any fossils or artifacts found belong to the people of the country.

Other countries such as Argentina are more of a free market, with dinosaur hunters and nonprofits battling in court to claim valuable finds.

While there isn't a state law dictating who owns fossils found in Montana, a federal judge has laid out the rules all paleontologists and commercial diggers must follow across the country.

A fierce court battle stemmed from the discovery of one of the largest Tyrannosaurus — and the most complete — ever discovered. It was named Sue after the amateur paleontologist who found it in 1990, in South Dakota's Hell Creek Formation....."

Now the story turns to Sue and that entire situation, which I would rather not relive, but I encourage you to read.

"A federal judge decided that whoever owns the land — be it the state, the federal government or a private party — owns whatever fossils are found in the ground.

Sue later sold at auction for nearly $8 million, opening the door to high-dollar dinosaur dealing.

Given the state and federal investigation of Murphy, Judith River Dinosaur Foundation board members feared court wrangling similar to that over sue could occur over Leonardo.

According to the court documents charging Murphy with stealing the turkey-sized raptor, he arranged with the Hammonds to equally split ownership of all discoveries on their property.

With the investigation looming, the foundation scrambled to switch ownership of Leonardo and several other fossils from Murphy's company to the foundation.

"It was a bit like getting divorced, and the fear was that the fossil would get tied up in the divorce," said Joe Iacuzzo, Murphy's former business partner. "We heard wild estimates that Leonardo would sell for $1 million to $10 million."

While Leonardo is in Houston, the allegedly stolen raptor, which is considered evidence in the pending felony case, is being kept safe in a locked state evidence locker.

Though officials with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office can't talk about an investigation until charges are filed, witnesses involved in the case say they believe the charges involving the raptor are just the beginning.

"It's not just the raptor, it was others too," Bakker said. "The federal investigation is much bigger."

Murphy first got tangled up with the law in 1994, when he found a hadrosaur brachylophosaurs, named Elvis, 35 miles north of Malta, on federal Bureau of Land Management property. With a storm rolling in, Murphy shored up the dirt above the exposed bones and covered the fossil until he could return with an official.

He was fined $500 for tampering with a historic specimen.

Montana paleontologists fear that landowners will be reluctant to allow scientists on their property to hunt for fossils because Murphy has long had a reputation as a respected fossil hunter who volunteers his time to discover and protect Montana's Jurassic jewels.

Bynum-area paleontologist David Trexler, whose family found Montana's other major dinosaur discovery known worldwide as Egg Mountain, considered Murphy a friend and compatriot in the mission to find and keep dinosaurs in the state.

Trexler and Murphy developed a code of ethics for professional and amateur diggers, hoping to guide fossil hunters to develop good relationships with landowners and follow responsible digging practices.

"He talked the talk and, to me and a lot of others, he seemed to walk the walk," Trexler said. "Come to find out, he set up the rules for everybody else."

Trexler and Bakker both advise landowners to check references and make sure that fossil hunters work for nonprofits before signing any contracts.

"It's sad, but the days of the handshake and you're as good as your word are going away," Trexler said. "I'm hoping that the focus will help landowners understand the differences between someone who says 'I'm a paleontologist and I want to collect dinosaurs,' and someone who says 'I can make you a whole bunch of money.'"

Trexler added that he hopes the charges and pending federal investigation of Murphy will encourage the Legislature and Montana's federal congressional delegation to license and regulate fossil hunting.

He also would like to see changes in the law to give states the first opportunity to buy fossils found on private land that are then put up for sale.

When Trexler first started in paleontology, two dinosaurs found in Montana could be seen in the state. He's made it his life's goal to build the Dinosaur Trail — a series of small-town museums dotting the Hi-Line — to benefit the communities where the dinosaurs were found.

It's the potential impact of Murphy's charges on the Dinosaur Trail and efforts to continue that work that worry him the most.

"I really, really worry about the damage," Trexler said. "I know the folks in Malta are not going to be hurt over the long term. But is this going to hurt the Dinosaur Trail? Is this going to offset the good that Leonardo is going to do? Is this going to lure more commercial diggers here?

"Obviously there are going to be repercussions. I just hope they're not too severe," he added."

Read the entire article here. Thanks to Russ for the heads up as the story continues to develop.

Update on the Montana "alleged" fossils theift story

Another story was published yesterday regarding the "alleged" theft of a small theropod skeleton in Montana. Portions of it can be found below and you can read the entire story here. I also encourage you to read some of the enlightening and interesting comments my previous blog story has received.

From the Billing Gazette:

Colleague takes digs at paleontologist

Texas curator stands by fossil Leonardo - but not by man who discovered it

By Ed Kemmick of The Gazette Staff

Montana's most famous dinosaur fossil soon will go on display in Texas unaffected by criminal charges against the paleontologist who discovered it, a museum official said.


Bob Bakker, curator of paleontology for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, said everything related to the discovery, excavation and preparation of the duckbill dinosaur nicknamed Leonardo was scientifically sound and well-documented.


Montana paleontologist Nate Murphy, who led the dig when Leonardo was discovered north of Malta in 2000, was charged last week with felony theft of a small raptor fossil.


The other good news from Houston, Bakker said, is that Leonardo wasn't damaged by Hurricane Ike, which battered Houston and the Gulf Coast over the weekend.

"Leo is safe," Bakker said. "That is the important thing. The whole museum did quite well."


The exhibition, "Dinosaur Mummy CSI: Cretaceous Science Investigation," was scheduled to open Friday. Because of Hurricane Ike, the opening probably will be delayed a couple of days, Bakker said.


The theft charges, filed in Phillips County, allege that Murphy stole the raptor fossil, which when alive weighed about as much as a red fox, from property owned by Bruce Bruckner and leased to Howard and JoAnn Hammond, on whose land Leonardo was discovered in 2000.


In an article in the Great Falls Tribune last week, Murphy said the whole thing was simply a misunderstanding. He said he and his son found the raptor under a fossilized turtle and didn't even realize the raptor was there at first.


The charging documents say Murphy initially told the Hammonds that the raptor in question was another specimen found near Saco.


Bakker, who has been cooperating with the state since it began investigating the case in June 2007, said he was told by Murphy that only a few raptor fragments were found on the land the Hammonds leased from Bruckner, and that the more complete raptor fossil was discovered near Saco and was entirely owned by the Judith River Foundation. The foundation owned the Judith River Dinosaur Field Station in Malta, where Murphy was the director of paleontology.


Bakker said Saturday that he was upset that Murphy continued to portray the incident as a misunderstanding. He said the discovery of the raptor on the Bruckner property was thoroughly documented with photographs, field notes and Global Positioning System data, and that there is no question that only one raptor was found.


"In this case, the ethical violation was clear-cut," Bakker said. "The documentation of the digging of the raptor was very complete."


Regardless of whether Murphy intended to profit from claiming ownership of the raptor fossil, Bakker said, he committed "one of the mortal sins of museum work" by "falsifying locality data."


"That will get you fired anywhere," Bakker said.


It is important to establish location not only in regard to ownership and compensation, Bakker said. From a scientific standpoint, much of the value of a specimen is lost if scientists don't know where it was found. That has become even more important in recent years with the increasing emphasis on ecological paleontology, he added.


Murphy, reached Monday in Billings, where he owns a cleaning-supplies distributorship, disputed Bakker's statements and said he couldn't say much to defend himself because of the pending criminal case. The charges arose from an investigation conducted jointly by the FBI, the Bureau of Land Management and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.


"I feel like I'm overwhelmed on this," Murphy said. "There are a lot of outside circumstances that aren't being reported. I haven't been able to tell my side of the story. When everything is put out there - it's about money and prestige......"


I encourage you to keep reading. The story gets a bit more strange.......................