[meteorite-list] Some facts about the Sikhote-Alin theft at UNM

From: Carl Agee <agee_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:21:54 -0700
Message-ID: <CADYrzhphJ3iByUV1sW0XE2RaaATngoX0e8578NDpFmSJbdWWaw_at_mail.gmail.com>

Some facts about the Sikhote-Alin theft at UNM

I have waited to tell the whole story of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite
theft at UNM, as I know it, because there is an ongoing criminal
investigation, so all the facts about the theft are still not in yet.
But because I have done a TV interview and the story appeared on the
front page of the Albuquerque Journal, and was distributed world-wide
by the Associated Press, plus a follow up interview was done by Tim
Heitz for the St. Louis Dispatch-Post, I felt it was time to publicly
praise the people who were key in the safe recovery and return of the
Sikhote-Alin to the Institute of Meteoritics (IOM). A full account of
this story will be forthcoming when the criminal investigation is
completed. Here is a highly abridged preview of just the early
recovery efforts.

The Sikhote-Alin was stolen from its display case, during public
opening hours sometime before Christmas break, the exact day is
unknown to me, hopefully this fact will be revealed by the accused
thief during the trial. I discovered the theft on New Year?s Day, when
I was giving Michael Farmer a private tour of the Meteorite Museum.
Michael had come to the IOM to show me some specimens of the new
martian fall, Tanzrou. As I was showing Michael the museum displays,
moving from case-to-case, I came upon a display where the Sikhote-Alin
should have been ? but it was empty, not even the label was there, the
specimen stand was tipped over. To make a long story short, we
contacted the UNM police, they took fingerprints, and eventually we
all went home. That evening I contacted Anne Black, Vice President of
IMCA, and she immediately offered to distribute an archival photo of
our Sikhote-Alin with a report of its theft on the internet. Then I
went to bed, and when I looked at my email inbox in the morning I saw
several emails from Michael Farmer and Michael Johnson, sent in the
middle of the night, basically saying that they had information about
the whereabouts of our Sikhote-Alin. Michael Johnson recognized the
photo that Michael Farmer had posted on his Facebook page as the same
Sikhote-Alin Tim Heitz had asked him about, concerning the value of
the same sample, over the Christmas holidays. I then contacted the UNM
police that morning, and they contacted Tim Heitz. He confirmed that
he was in possession of the UNM Sikhote-Alin and would hold it safe
for us. Again, to make a long story short, I chose to send my
administrative Lee Ann Lloyd to St. Louis to retrieve the Sikhote-Alin
from Tim Heitz and we had our specimen back at the IOM by Friday,
January 6. The outcome of this theft was incredibly good, and I am
extremely grateful to everyone who helped in the recovery effort.
Again the story is not completely played out, nor have I mentioned all
the details yet, but my deepest thanks to the quick, decisive action,
on New Years Day, by Anne Black, Michael Farmer and Michael Johnson!

Carl Agee

-- 
Carl B. Agee
Director and Curator, Institute of Meteoritics
Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences
MSC03 2050
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131-1126
Tel: (505) 750-7172
Fax: (505) 277-3577
Email: agee at unm.edu
http://meteorite.unm.edu/people/carl_agee/

Received on Sun 15 Jan 2012 11:21:54 AM PST