DENVER Information from a deceased informant continues to yield prosecutions for artifact theft in the Four Corners.
A new round of cases in the last month has targeted at least three people, including Bud Edward Rockwell, 48, of Dove Creek, who pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of trafficking in archaeological resources.
The charge is a felony, and Rockwell faces up to 14 months in federal prison when U.S. District Judge William Martinez sentences him Aug. 5.
David A. King of Monticello, Utah, pleaded guilty last week in a Durango courtroom to three counts of trafficking in archaeological resources.
Daryl Searcy of Cahone faces one count of the same charge. He has pleaded not guilty.
Federal informant Ted Gardiner recorded all three men discussing and selling artifacts taken from federal lands, according to court papers.
Rockwell was charged with selling an ancient rattlesnake-shaped pendant to Gardiner for $500 in March 2008.
I was out hiking. I found a pendant on the ground, Rockwell told the judge in court Thursday. I picked it up and took it home. I put it in a picture frame for several years. A man came by and offered me $500 for it. I sold it to him. Thats about the size of it.
Rockwell told investigators he found the pendant on Tin Cup Mesa while looking for a fugitive who shot a Cortez police officer and triggered a long manhunt, according to court documents. Rockwell was searching on his own after the manhunt ended.
The informant, Gardiner, committed suicide in 2010. But a federal judge ruled in a separate case that the audio and video recordings he made could be used in court.
Gardiners recordings produced charges against 24 people in the Four Corners in the countrys largest-ever prosecution of archaeological crimes. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the bust in summer 2009.
Most of the defendants have pleaded guilty and received sentences of probation. Few have served time in prison.
In exchange for Rockwells guilty plea, prosecutors agreed not to pursue added charges against him. They will also return 21 guns to a family member that they seized from his house, but they will keep eight guns that Rockwell himself owned. People with felony convictions are not allowed to own guns.
Rockwell is free on bond.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.