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FBI Arrests 4 College Interns For Stealing Lunar Materials
An anonymous reader "Today, the fourth member of a group of college interns working at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston turned herself in after being charged with conspiracy to steal government property. Click2Houston.com has an article with a video feed covering many details of the case. Apparently, three of the alleged theives went to Florida and tried to sell, online, the 5 oz. of moon rocks and meteorite material they lugged out of the JSC in a 600lb case. Here's another article from the Houston Chronicle."
And they didn't expect to get caught? I might understand if they were trying to sell a harddrive they had stolen from work, or a 2nd hand base unit they had sneaked out. But a few hundred pounds of moonrock are sure to be noticed, especially when you sell em on eBay!
They deserve to get caught..
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
...brings no
money.
sorry for the youngs here. A long time ago, there was some band named Pink Floyd...
... 4 more interns at JSC have been caught trying to steal the Space Shuttle.
----- Whats wrong with this picture? http://www.revoh.org:1234/whatswrong
The rocks in their heads, instead.
Is the cover-up of the fact that NASA stole them first from the inhabitants of the moon.
I had the retaining wall in my garden knocked over, parts of it stolen,
and they left kind of striped flag on my front porch.
from the striking-a-blow-for-profits dept.
:)
hmmm..
how bout...from the dumb-as-a-box-of-moon-rocks dept.?
or
from the dumb-as-an-early-post-mocking-the-dept-title dept.?
Nah. This is a non-story. Stupid people doing stupid things. Happens all the time. Hell, look at this post.
Sent from your iPad.
"We put two and two together," Houston FBI spokesman Bob Doguim said Monday. "We had missing rocks in Houston, and some people trying to sell them online."
Heck, they're clever these FBI chaps, eh?
Why is it government property? I thought there was an agreement that the moon was not owned by any country or government. Surely taking the rock from the moon doesn't actually mean that you then own it (as you've then stolen it from the rest of the world). If it belongs to anyone one earth, then maybe the UN, but not an individual government.
There is, last time I checked, *one* moon rock in the U.S. (or the world?) that is in any way available to the public. You can go and touch it. I did. Whee. Looked like a rock, to me.
My deviantArt site
So how do put a price on that:
oz? lbs? People living somewhere on the southern hemisphere and a harddisk access format? What do they have to do with moonrocks?
0x or or snor perron?!
....thrown in jail just for mooning!
They would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those kids and that dog!
-.-
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
These guys should get a Darwin award ASAP for their stupidity.
I hope they get a nice, large boyfriend in jail to remind them of their get rich fast idea.
one year ago there was a big diamond theft in amsterdam. No guns were used.
# th iev]
the diamonds wee carried out thtough the front door in a microwavebox!
[http://www.preciousgemstones.com/gffall01.html
$8 Million in Diamonds Stolen in Microwave
In the Netherlands, a 25-year-old man calmly walked out of the offices of Amsterdam's Gassan Diamonds carrying a box stuffed with uninsured diamonds. He had arrived at the office with the box at the start of the working day, saying it contained a microwave oven. Benno Leeser, director of the 56-year-old family-run firm said, "He came with a microwave in the box, but he left with the diamonds." The suspect, said to be a former army cook who had worked for the firm since April, has vanished without a trace.
Privacy is terrorism.
It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)
.. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.
Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
Is there a market out there to make any money off this? I mean - if I ran across "L@@K - real MOON ROCK from SPACE MISSIONS!!!!! N/R!!!!!!!" on eBay, I'd assume it was just a joke at best, or a scam at worst. I mean, sure, you can sucker someone into paying $100 for a fake moon rock, but a million or so for a rock that, as far as the public is concerned, may or may not be real? It doesn't seem like all that great a plan - perhaps it would've been better to contact some private collectors directly.
Obviously the moon rock thieves felt their profits could be, er, sky-high.
I don't see why they didn't just try to convince Rocket Guy to let them borrow the rocket so they could go up pick some lunar rocks of their own! :)
I am concerned about any program, any piece of hardware, any treaty, any law that treats me as a consumer, not a citizen
Quoting Thad Roberts:
Somehow, I don't think NASA had his type of adventures in mind...(More on this story here.)
Ebay already has a category for this stuff!
"You can justify anything by putting it in quotes, adding a famous name and making it a sig" - Albert Einstein
Oh right, he must be the same guy who sells deneauralizer on ebay...
Sure it does
...not for being so dumb for getting caught but for stealing the things in the first place. As already being pointed out by others:
- The Sceptics View: It's from the moon but looks like a rock, big deal...
- The Business Man's View: Who can you sell that stuff to, without any certificate of authenticity?
- The Geek View: These things belong to the scientific community, not high-bidding assholes (same goes for art)
Puhish them, why not giving them 6 months (probation?)? This is not the same as sneaking into school one night with a key that happens to open the door to the chemistry lab and stealing some magnesium and other cool stuff... ummm... That was only hypothetical and you can't prove anything!!
Excellence: Moderate (mostly affected by comments on your karma)
What is the real story here? 10oz of rock fragments for $2000-8000 per oz = $20-80k, not really a million dollar heist. This amounts to a theft of around 1/1400th of the total brought back from the moon. Big deal. It's the price of one new car.
It's maybe worth commenting how law enforcement is starting to use the Internet to cross reference thefts with sales. But seriously: doing manual searches of e-Bay is not what I'd consider automation.
Summer time... and the news is slow.
My blog
It'll be interesting to see them use the defense that "it was the moon rock gnomes!" ...can't resist this one.
1. Steal moon rocks.
2. ???
3. Profit!
"I may be quite wrong." - Socrates
So I misread it.. now stop drinking caffineated coffee - it obviously affects you.
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
I think that AC was upset about the fact the poster didn't even read the summary fully before posting, let alone the linked story..... the pertinent info was on the 2nd last line/sentence of short summary paragraph - even skim readers would see it.
- HeXa
Probably just a moment of utter stupidity and now their lives are screwed. Bet they're wishing they could slingshot around the sun...
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
for making life hard for the rest of us at NASA. Because of this, every person interning at NASA is going to be put under the microscope.
First Monica, now the space guys, giving interns a bad name forever...
Jeremy
Faith Friends
I really think Pawnshops ought to do a better job of protecting their clients. After all, if you put a sign on your shop that says "WE PAY CASH FOR GOLD AND ELECTRONICS", you are really advertising your store as a front for burglers. The sign might as well say "ROB YOUR NEIGHBORS AND SELL THEIR STUFF HERE. WE WON'T TELL".
-----
Sorry, I'm only a 1336 h4x0r.
For any far reaching businessman, the Moon means ready cash. Heck, and $8000 an ounce, this should make a private enterprise trip to the Moon financially viable. Send up an unmanned probe with a big scoop and bucket and you should be able to get a few hundred pounds back no problem. 100 pounds of the stuff will get you almost 13 million dollars. With all the money leaving the stock market, the rich need to invest in something. Forget gold, invest in Moon rocks!
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
Its even been discussed on /. before.
Now that being said, its very common in the art world for works of art - sometimes priceless ones at that - to be stolen and to disappear into private collections.
And I could fully understand if any one of these geeks took the rocks and stashed them away in their bedrooms. Hell, who wouldn't want a chunk of the moon in their bedroom?
But to try to sell on the 'Net?!??
I'm missing something here, but I guess its because was assuming they were bright.
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Okay, so just how did they get the lunking big safe out? This wasn't only a few ounces of moonrock. It was a few ounces of moonrock, several bits of the Martian meteor that had the suggested microbial signatures in it, and a BIG safe around them: a 600-pound safe. How do you check out of the NASA building lugging a 600-lb safe? Where do you dispose of it later? Why didn't NASA have an alarm on any of this stuff? Guess we'll find out now.
At $8,000 U.S. per gram, the outside price, the moon rocks (5 oz = around 142 grams) would have fetched a little over a quarter million bucks each for the four kids. The low end, $2000, would get around 71 grand apiece. The meteor would have added to that some. Was it worth the risk of having no career?
The good news is that the "Belgium (sic) rock hound" and his friends knew when they'd be over the line. Fencing something unique isn't always this hard; stolen original paintings end up in private collections, for example. The people on the other end of this had consciences.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Unlike the moon rocks, the TV in your example belongs to somebody else to begin with. The moon rocks were just sitting there on the moon until the US Gov't. (admittedly not my favorite institution) spent $billions to bring them back for scientific analysis. Therefore, I'd say they're the "owners". And it's not like they don't release the data to the scientific community by publishing it. That's far more useful than giving away the rocks themselves.
Freedom: "I won't!"
YOU didn't read the story either it seems. It was actually 4 ounces, although it is not possible to determine in either linked story, you sorry stupid AC. I had to go to Yahoo to find that out. The Chronicle story implies that either a) all 862 lbs collected over the years was in the safe, or b) there were two sets of 5oz each in the safe. The other article has no mention of the weight of the safe's contents.
... one of them tried to smoke the moon rock in thier crack pipe.
Why on Earth would anyone be a self-proclaimed "rock hound"? I mean, does this include precious gems (I hope, for sanity's sake), or does a "rock hound" just have some screwed up fetish for rough earthen materials?
If someone were to walk up to me and say "Hey man, I'm a rock hound," I would assume:
a) the person is just insane, or
b) they are trying to sell me crack
Did this guy call up the FBI and say he was a "rock hound"? Had I taken the call I would have said "sorry, buddy, you want our buddies in the DEA *click*" Sure, we would have lost the case and it would have been all my fault, but it would have struck a blow for common sense.
Here:
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-07
and more moon rocks for sale here:
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-121799a.h
(possibly!)
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
"I've got moon rocks in my nose!"
-Ralph Wiggum
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
...if you have an internship at NASA and you still manage to fuck it up, just because you want to sell some moon rocks online. With the same luck, you can go down to Arizona desert, find some odd looking rocks, pack them up and sell them, its not like everybody knows what a 'real' moon rock looks/feels like. If those kids had more brains, they would work really hard for NASA so they could get a job there and then sell some real documents to our not-so-friendly countries like China, North Korea, Iraq, etc. Now because of those stupid kids our tax payers will have to pay more taxes, so NASA can start reviewing applicants more precisely upon hiring.
Thad, Tiffany, Sean, and, um, Shae.... Need I say more?
Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus.
Off topic: Man, did anyone see the video feed? She wasn't even that cute... lol! At least if she was kind of cute it would have been worth the effor to check out the video feed... :-) hehehehe
"And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night." Ergo, the God-given purpose of the moon is to provide light during the night. Ergo, there cannot be such things as moonless nights. Ergo, the moon cannot orbit the earth.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
The REAL Story.
This sounds exactly like Coulter's new book!
.. Damn it. I knew I should have used Buy It Now. Now the auction is gone :( No moon rocks for me, and I was all ready to paypal those guys too.
1) They loved NASA and the space program,
2) They were all very intelligent, and
3) They all very honest from all my dealings with them.
That was about 3 years ago, but still, to steal something from the people who have given you the privilege to work at a prestigious place and given you the opportunity for once-in-a-lifetime experience is baffling.
The reason they were probably able to steal the stuff is because co-ops are trusted so much there. It is almost unquestioned that the people who pass the screening process have a true desire to work at NASA and are of good moral character. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, and now future co-ops and interns will probably not be given as many privileges and have access to as many areas as before.
It's a shame...
--
"It's always that rotten million that spoil it for the other 11."
Their parents can be proud knowing that they were caught trying to sell moon rock instead of crack rock.
I can see the market for 'My college kid sells moon rock' bumper stickers sky rocketing. Time for someone to make a quick buck.
heh...... recursive reasoning
- HeXa
Okay.. so if I'm in the US of A, and I pick up a rock off the ground, and take it home to Costa Rica...
have I 'stolen' US Property?
Considering that pawn shops cater, generally, to the dregs of society, I find it very hard to believe that they would do anything more than an empty gesture towards law enforcement: Pawn shops wouldn't exist without people ripping off jewellery from their parents, or B&Eing their neighbours. Perhaps pawn shops offer up a sacrifice to the law enforcement gods every now and then, but it certainly wouldn't be their norm.
Pawn shops exist primarily because the reality is that police, at least in most places, really don't care about "petty theft": It is VERY unlikely that they would put out any effort whatsoever to check pawn shops for stolen goods, or to watch Ebay, etc. A friend's laptop was stolen from a coworker's car a while back while they ate lunch in a nearby restaurant (in the middle of the day), and they could actually visibly SEE the greasy finger prints of the culprit(s) all over the top of the window where they pulled it out. Did the police take fingerprints, even when asked to? Nope, it's "just a laptop" and isn't worth their top. At MOST most police limit pawn shop enforcement to "when someone sees something of their own for sale in a pawnshop and won't stop calling us to do something about it". Personally I find this fact, the ignorance of most police to crimes against personal property, an outrageous situation: These same police will blanket a neighbourhood with dozens of cars if someone stole a case from the liquor store or shoplifted a sharpie from Kmart.
Pinky: "Naaaaaarrff! Oh, Brain! Aren't they beautiful!"
Brain:"Yes, Pinky. Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
Pinky: "I think so, Brain, but don't you think Microsoft already has a software package that limits the spread of ideas?"
Brain: "No, Pinky! I mean Moon Rocks! Look at them! The moon is the symbol of everything. Every creature looks up to it at night. If some genius were able to go in to the JSC and take the moon rocks he could use the power of the moon to force the masses to conquer the astrology pages, even the palm readers and eventually the world! And I, Pinky, am that genius."
Pinky: "But, Brain, how are we going to get the moon rocks"
Brain: "Simple. There interns are underpaid and young, they could easily steal the moon rocks and bring them to me, then I will have the power of the moon and then- the world!"
Pinky: "Lets sell them on ebay..um..-narf!"
It's all good.
"FBI Arrests 4 College Interns For Stealing Lunar Materials"
:)
When I read this headline, the first image in my mind was of college kids building a rocket and 'stealing' lunar materials. I can see some MIT kids getting drunk and doing exactly that heh. As for the FBI getting involved: Anybody remember that Simpsons quote "The Moon belongs to America."
"Derp de derp."
Here's what I get from reading the actual article in the Houston paper, rather than just reading the little summary. Four friends decide it would be funny to post something about selling moon rocks. They haven't stolen the rocks at this point, and they probably don't really intend to. They have some good laughs over it, I'm sure. Then, someone actually replies about wanting them! (someone that is just a front for the FBI) Encouraged by the huge amount that he is supposedly willing to pay, they are enticed to actually steal the rocks. In fact, they don't even steal them till after the undercover FBI people set up a price and meeting place. By this point, they feel like they're in too deep to back out. The joke has gone too far. They feel they have no choice but to actually follow through. Hello entrapment! (anyone who actually read it, feel free to discuss...others please don't comment)
One of the arrested interns, was a student of mine when I was a teaching assistant at the University of Utah. He was quite a people-pleaser, but as I recall, had little academic ability. I was told, that he commonly cheated his way through classes. I can't substantiate such a claim, but given the difficulty he had with freshman physics, I don't find it difficult to believe.
He was instrumental in starting the University of Utah Astronomical Society, though this was probably largely a social exercise for him, as his knowledge of astronomy was weaker than that of the average high-school student.
Thad was quite fond of fantasizing about his future career as a Noble prize-winning astronaut (email was astronaut_thad@yahoo.com at one point). As great as my doubts were at the time about him achieving his ambitions, it seems quite unlikely that he shall succeed at this point; though it would be untrue to suggest that recent events are anything short of shocking, my perception of Thad as someone with a proclivity for dishonesty was apparently not entirely unjustified.
I thought a little (scandal-mongering) biographica would be appropriate, as I doubt very much any of the major news sources are likely to interview me.
Disclaimer: I am not presently affiliated in any way with the University of Utah, NASA, or Thad Roberts.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I recall the dust on lunar space suits was auctioned to public by a private collector at one time.
But the moon rock is not valuable because of some inherent value. It's valuable because it's from the moon. There is no shortage of moon rock; it's not unique, nothing has been 'stolen' from the moon.Anyone else who goes there can get truckloads of it.
So to say that the US has 'stolen' the rock from the moon because they don't have rights to the moon is absurd.
I'm not quite as cynical about cops in general as that, but I did have a similar experience:
My apartment had been robbed by the previous (scumbag) tennant, which I know because 1) my door was locked when I got home, so the thief had a key, 2) the apt manager had just informed me the day before that they were going to change my locks becasue they never changed them when I moved in, and 3) my neighbor's kids SAW the previous tennant outside my apartment that day.
My whole apartment had been rooted through, so I know there were fingerprints everywhere, and I *KNEW* who the thief was, and the cop assigned couldn't be bothered to take fingerprints or track the thief down. I called the cop a few times, and he said they got daily logs from the local pawn shops so they'd spot it if any of my stuff showed up. That's all he was interested in doing.
Meanwhile (and this is where the dovetail comes in) the FBI had set up in Florida and posted advertisements in magazines in order to lure people who were selling fake moon rocks over the net and in other places. When the Guatemalan man attempted to contact them and sell his (real) rock (for a seven-figure sum) the FBI was stunned to find that there was actually a real moon rock out there because they hadn't expected to find any.
The whole thing is now tied up in litigation because the US claims that the rock doesn't properly belong to its current owner because it was given to the Guatemalan government/people.
I wonder of the students saw the same ad and figured they could make some big bucks.
I wouldn't say that I'm overly cynical about police: I blame society just as much because, as public servants, they really are doing pretty much what we've asked for. Many people have a "oh, don't worry about it: That's what insurance is for" attitude that permeates the "personal theft is no biggie" situation, but the problem is that that encourages and breeds crime. Car thefts (and the incidental costs of them being used for joy riding, crash up derbies, etc) are a HUGE problem in my area, but again everyone has a "no biggie" attitude about it, despite the fact that in the end we all are paying for every penny of loss and damage (and, of course, because car thefts aren't heavily pursued, thieves steal cars to use as transport for even bigger crimes. It's the old broken window effect).
One of these things is not like the other... tell me, can you guess which one?
(Scroll down and look at the photos and descriptions)
When I first saw the lineup I laughed out loud:
Just look at those photos and descriptions and then try to guess which one was saying (in his best Steve from Dell voice), "DUDE! Like, if you could get some of those rocks, we could make... like... I bet at least 200 bucks!" (Suppressed laughter to hold his smoke)
Incidentally, I bet the University of Utah, Texas Lutheran University, and Lamar University are oh so happy with having their names displayed so prominently. Shining alumni indeed!
Slashdot comments... splitting hairs since 1997.
Oh, GREAT.
I FINALLY get a great idea that is going to make me MILLIONS, and now I'm too scared to go through with it. You see, I was going to market and sell pieces of stone sculpted into shapes resembling the buttocks of various celebrities.
But now I can't. I don't want the feds busting me for the sale of "Moon Rocks."
Back to the drawing board...
.sig wanted. Inquire within.
.. I should start charging royalties each time this thing gets reposted. :)
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
International waters belong to no nation, but the fish pulled out of the water belongs to the fisherman who caught them.
Same with the rocks from the moon being US property
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
While I understand that the properties of lunar dust and rocks is unique, it is still just "dirt". Nothing really that special. What makes these things so valuable isn't their properties, or the rarity - but rather the amount of money and time it took to go there and get them, and bring them back.
The only way these items could ever drop in value would be if travel to the moon became more routine, especially if artifacts were brought back. However, I wonder if certain interests want to prevent this from happenning.
Here we are, the world, a couple of years into a new millenium, and the greatest acheivement ever in mankind's history happened 30 years ago, and has never been repeated. Instead, we wage war on each other, stifle each other's rights, are ground up and spit out, and if we are lucky, we die leaving a little something behind for our children.
So fucking pathetic.
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
"Yes, let us pull down his pants and spank him with the moon rocks."
I am ever growing. I am ever discovering another ability or talent coursing through me. The energies of balance. The Yen and the Yang. I am light and darkness and accept Zen. I have never felt so much power in the Christian world! I am real! Connected with all of nature where the power of life trully resides to discipline, teach, and reveal. I am sad at my lonely position. I dream of finding a master to learn the Shaolin. To be the Dragon I was meant to be. 03/03/76. I was born in the year of the Dragon. I hold to the spinning enegies of it's balance. I yearn to fly and feel my chi seeking flight. Searching Searching...I learned guitar on my own. I've never gone to college, but I excel in computers, dance, philosophy, and science. I will seek into the universe and find the Dragon.
Wow.
This is the right person; the fractalized@yahoo.com address was connected to the email sent to the Belgian rockhounds according to the Houston Chronicle article.
Guess you don't have any.
Anynonymous Coward Bitch.
Decreasing the standards would have nothing to do with preventing this from happening, however increasing them might. As for your second idea, increasing compensation may have the desired effect.
LinuxWorx
Spelling errors are intentional as are gramatical error
Hmmm...
:(
Did the FBI make them travel from Houston to Tampa just so they could add 'crossing state lines' to the charges?
If so, does that qualify as entrapment?
All things considered, there is no reason for such a post (I was a TA ...) to be +2. We have no proof that the poster is Elvis, let alone a former TA for one of the accused (emphasis on the word accused pending a trial). Since this is merely an accusation and possibly slander (IANAL), it should not rate above -1 when it's posted as AC.
I realize that I'm offtopic here, but what exactly are the guidelines for moderation in this case?
So where did these rocks come from "really"?
:)
I read some where, the japs are well on their way to mapping the moon in about two years, so no doubt the truth will be revealed then.
So what happens to these theifs then?
Area51 - We are watching...