Couple to fight artifact charges
April
19, 2002
By Shane Benjamin
Herald Staff Writer
Two people pleaded innocent Thursday in U.S. District Court
in Durango after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges they
illegally dug up ancient ancestral Puebloan remains and artifacts on government
land.
The case is now headed for trial in Denver in front of U.S.
District Judge Edward W. Nottingham. A trial date has not been scheduled.
Investigators said Montezuma County residents Danny Keith
Rose, 52, and Tammy Woosley, 41, were hunting for artifacts in October 2000 when
they uncovered an ancestral Puebloan burial site in the San Juan National Forest
near McPhee Reservoir, north of Dolores.
They are accused of violating the Archaeological Resources
Protection Act and destroying government property. If found guilty, they face up
to 10 years in prison for destroying the property and up to two years in prison
for uncovering ancient Puebloan human remains and artifacts.
Rose and Woosley were seen with "shovels in hand digging
in an archaeological site ... and had partially excavated a burial containing
human remains," according to a court summons.
Reach Staff Writer Shane Benjamin at shane@durangoherald.com.
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