http://www.space.com/news/astronotes-1.html Mars Meteorite Fragments Among Stolen Rocks Recovered by Feds space.com July 29, 2002 That stolen but recovered 600-pound (270-kilogram) safe lifted from NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) on July 13 not only contained Apollo lunar samples, but also pieces of the famous "Mars rock" - meteorite ALH 84001. Federal agents working with NASA have fully assessed the safe's contents. All lunar and Mars specimens have been accounted for. However, it is not clear whether some other meteorite material may be missing. Small pieces of lab equipment, also thought to be located in the safe, may be missing, as are scientific lab notebooks. The space sting operation had undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents arresting three student employees of NASA JSC, as well as another individual not employed at the space center. Arrests were made in Florida and Texas with the individuals charged with Conspiracy to Commit Theft of Government Property and Transportation in Interstate Commerce of Stolen Property. According to James Jarboe, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Tampa Division, a FBI undercover operation was underway since May and utilized e-mail to communicate with an individual offering priceless moon rocks. That individual called the specimens the world's largest private and verifiable Apollo rock collection. The e-mail messages were sent from several locations -- the University of Utah, Johnson Space Center and a public library in Houston, he said. In a document from NASA Office of Inspector General in Washington, D.C., Jarboe said that the e-mail exchanges between the undercover FBI agents and the seller included curatorial and historical records on the samples. Those exchanges culminated in a meeting at a restaurant in Orlando, Florida over the weekend of July 20-21 to finalize the purchase of the Apollo moon rocks. The FBI began the investigation after receiving an e-mail tip at a site established to handle Internet fraud matters. ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
