US Collector buys Stolen Native American Remains

Kathy Lynn Gray, 'Jackson County man pleads guilty to buying stolen Native American remains' The Columbus Dispatch - Wednesday August 5, 2015

A southern Ohio man admitted on Wednesday in U.S. District Court that he bought the human remains of eight Native Americans reportedly stolen from a Jackson County farm.  Mark M. Beatty, 56, of Wellston in Jackson County, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in Native American remains. His case is one of only a handful of cases criminally prosecuted as part of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. After the hearing, Jackson County Sheriff Tedd Frazier said that Beatty had purchased the remains of two adults and six juveniles from three men who had dug them up from a farm on Sour Run Road in the county. 

A neighbour saw the men digging around the site which is a rock shelter and found 'a Volkswagen-size hole' on the land, as well as shovels, dirt sifters and buckets. He told the owner (who has not been named) and the sheriff’s office began an investigation. The authorities located Beatty who admitted in April that he had purchased the remains, as well as hundreds of artifacts from the men, all from the Sour Run Road property. 

Beatty pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal with a binding sentence of three years of probation, including three months of house arrest; a $3,500 fine; and $1,000 in restitution. The restitution would be paid to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma for reburial of the human remains at an undisclosed location in Ohio. Beatty also must publish an advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation admitting his criminal acts and warning others not to excavate Native American bones and artifacts illegally. He also is required to do 100 hours of community service for a program that protects or promotes Native Americans and to help authorities in the prosecution of the three diggers.

The investigation into the artefact hunters continues; they have not yet been charged.