US sentences million-dollar-dinosaur trafficker to three months in prison
Eric Prokopi ordered 70-million-year-old Tarbosaurus bataar skeleton from Mongolia that sold at New York auction for US$1.05 million
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 04 June, 2014, 9:39am
UPDATED : Thursday, 05 June, 2014, 4:34am
Associated Press in New York
A dinosaur skeleton smuggled from Mongolia. Photo: AFP
A fossils dealer has been sentenced to three months in prison even after a US prosecutor described his cooperation with law enforcement officers in heroic terms, saying he enabled more than 18 largely complete dinosaur fossils to be located, enough for Mongolia to open its first dinosaur museum.
Eric Prokopi, 39, was sentenced on Tuesday by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein for smuggling a 70-million-year-old tyrannosaurus skeleton from Mongolia into the United States by making false statements to US officials, including that the then-unassembled bones were merely reptile fossils from Britain.
Once assembled, the skeleton was sold by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions for more than US$1 million before it was seized by the US government.
Hellerstein also ordered Prokopi to serve three months' community confinement and 100 hours of community service.
Hellerstein said Prokopi was to be commended for his cooperation and for working as a commercial palaeontologist to enhance the world's knowledge of the origins of man.
But the judge said Prokopi had "done a bad thing" and needed punishment.
Prokopi apologised and said he hoped to rebuild his business with an emphasis on getting proper documentation for bones he purchased.
Eric Prokopi was sentenced to three years in prison. Photo: Reuters
"I sincerely love fossils," said Prokopi of Williamsburg in the US state of Virginia. He was living in Gainesville, Florida, when he was charged with importing multiple shipments of dinosaur bones between 2010 and 2012 that had been stolen from the Gobi desert region of Mongolia.
Prokopi also said he hoped to repair any damage to the field of palaeontology caused by his case.
Defence lawyer Georges Lederman had asked the judge to spare Prokopi from prison, citing his cooperation and noting that the charges had led to his divorce, the loss of his home and a stigma that had caused others in his profession to resist working with him.
Assistant US attorney Martin Bell said Prokopi's knowledge had aided investigations into the trade in dinosaur fossils that were continuing in the states of Wyoming, California and New York.
He said his cooperation "has been useful, has been fruitful, has been important".
Bell said Prokopi had "developed their knowledge of the players in the trade of not only dinosaur fossils, but other natural treasures".
As a result of Prokopi's work, he wrote, Mongolia is opening a museum based on dinosaurs "recovered in this case alone".
