MOBILE, Ala. - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Mobile District, announced today that after an exhaustive investigation of illegal removal of Native American artifacts by looters from sites on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, several convictions have been made.
Jerome Daniel Young, 45, and Perry E. Knowles, 51,of Nettleton, Mississippi, Marty Dean Kennedy, 40, of Aberdeen, Mississippi, and Brian Keith Sawyer, 46, of Amory, Mississippi, were recently sentenced in the United States Northern District Court for their roles in removing Native American artifacts from government land and buying or selling the same. Young and Kennedy were sentenced on March 11, 2016, following a previous guilty plea to one felony count each of conspiring to excavate and remove archeological resources located on designated historic public lands in violation of the Archeological Resources Protection Act. Knowles and Sawyer were sentenced on March 4, 2016, following a previous guilty plea to one felony count each of purchasing Native American artifacts that had been excavated and removed from designated historic public lands in violation of the law. The investigation and subsequent charges arose out of the removal of Native American artifacts from USACE managed property along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Monroe County, Mississippi.
Young was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six (6) months to be followed by three (3) years of supervised release. Kennedy was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of eight (8) months, to be followed by three (3) years of supervised release. Both Young and Kennedy were ordered to pay a fine of $8,000 and both were banned from entering any USACE managed property during the term of their supervised release. For their role in the offense, Knowles and Sawyer were each sentenced to probation of term of three (3) years, to include a period of home confinement of six (6) months and a ban from all USACE managed property during the term of their probation. Knowles was further ordered to pay a fine of $6,000, while Sawyer was ordered to pay a fine of $4,000.
The investigation was conducted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Office of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), USACE Mobile District, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP).
“Mobile District Cultural Resources program is working hard to investigate any and all reports of looting of cultural resources in our District,” Michael P. Fedoroff, the Senior Tribal Liaison for USACE Mobile District, said. “USACE has made a commitment to Tribal Nations to protect ancestral homelands under our stewardship, and the successful interagency work on this case has helped fulfil that commitment”
Please report looting of archaeological materials on USACE (Mobile District) managed property by calling 251-690-2777.
For more information about Mobile District please visit our web sites at: http://www.sam.usace.army.mil/ and www.facebook.com/USACEMOBILE/.
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