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."

Does this answer your question?

[chevelleSS]

Sure it does [ebay.com]

Re:Who would buy these?

[little1973]

"And what kind of idiot wouldn't know that any moon rocks for sale must be stolen property?"

This is not true. You can find Moon rocks (even Mars rocks) on Earth since meteorites can tear material from the Moon (or Mars) at impact which may land on Earth afterwards.

Re:Who would buy these?

[collectspace]

Lunar "touchstones" are located at the National Air & Space Museum, Space Center Houston and the Museo de Las Ciencias in Mexico. (I believe Kennedy Space Center also has a touchstone, but I am not sure.)

You could also buy [collectspace.com] touchable lunar dust earlier this year...

Re:Where is the news?

[UM_Maverick]

Not exactly...it was 2-8K per GRAM, not per ounce. At 28.4 grams per ounce, this becomes $568K-$2.2 million. So yeah, it really is a million-dollar heist.

Also, the FBI didn't find it themselves...they were tipped off by "a belgian rock hound"

Thad Roberts

[Anonymous Coward]

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 [e-mail] 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.