US Man sentenced to prison for violating the Archeological Resources Protection Act

Prehistoric chert tools illegally removed
from public lands (photo NPS ISB)

The Investigative Services Branch (ISB) of the US National Park Service has published a news release (June 5, 2018) about a case prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky:

An investigation by Special Agents of the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch (ISB) has resulted in a prison term for a man who trafficked prehistoric artifacts looted from public lands. Gary Womack, age 60, was recently sentenced to serve 15 months imprisonment for three felony violations of the Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA). Court records show that Womack bought approximately 30 artifacts illegally removed from a Hopewell culture burial mound in Indiana. Such mounds are sacred spaces built by American Indians almost 2,000 years ago. Hopewellian people gathered at earthwork complexes for feasts, funerals, and rites of passage. Womack also trafficked artifacts from American Indian burial sites in Kentucky and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He was implicated in the trafficking of artifacts from Channel Islands National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and other public lands in Arizona and New Mexico. The cultural artifacts included prehistoric chert blades, stone tools, ancient ceramic pots, and a ladle. During the sentencing hearing, the federal judge told Womack that he was disturbed that Womack had chosen to dig the graves of the ancestors of American Indians for profit, and had done so while being well aware of the laws he had chosen to violate. [...] Womack pleaded guilty to the charges in March 2018.

The investigations had been carried out by ISB Special Agents from across the National Park System over a three-year period with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).