It Should Never Happen in America?

Journalist Hugh Eakin ('Italy Focuses on a Princeton Curator in an Antiquities Investigation', New York Times, June 2, 2010) seems genuinely pained that "another American" is faced with allegations of involvement with traffic in stolen antiquities, "something that was unheard of before the Getty case, and that many museum professionals believed was not going to happen again". I wonder why? Are museum directors like the US dealers and collectors whose statements seem to suggest that they consider that since they think they are out of reach of foreign law enforcement authorities, that they are above any laws?

I suspect we will hear more of this case in due course.