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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Apr 2, 2006 21:57:59 GMT -5
Men plead guilty to looting artifacts from gorgeMar. 28, 2006 Two Estill County men have pleaded guilty to looting an archaeological site in the Red River Gorge, the Forest Service said. Michael Scott Johnson, 42, and William Walter Blaisdell, 43, both of Ravenna, entered guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in Lexington. They face sentences of up to a year in prison and $100,000 fines. In May 2005, the men admitted removing artifacts from a cliff rock shelter known as the Sunny Shelter in Powell County, the Forest Service said. The artifacts confiscated from the men showed a potential prehistoric affiliation with the Shawnee and Cherokee tribes, the agency said. The looted site suffered irreparable damage. The Red River Gorge, which is part of the Daniel Boone National Forest, is a National Register of Historic Places Archaeological District. The gorge contains some of the earliest records of agricultural cultivation in the eastern United States. Johnson and Blaisdell are scheduled to appear on April 25 for sentencing. Other indictments are currently pending in separate cases of looting in the Daniel Boone. Those cases are expected to be presented to a federal grand jury within a few months. www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/14207202.htm
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