Redds plead guilty to looting

Mother, daughter plead guilty in artifacts theft case

By Geoffrey FattahJerrica Redd, 37, entered guilty pleas to one count each of theft of property from tribal lands, excavation of archeological artifacts and transportation of archeological artifacts. According to a plea statement, Redd admitted to traveling to the Hoskinnini area of the Navajo Indian Reservation in April 2008 and taking a "black on red" vessel, seed jar and vase. Two of the items were "substantially buried" and had to be excavated. She then admitted to taking the items to her home in Blanding, where she cleaned and repaired the items, and displayed them in her home. The items, according to court documents were each valued at over $1,000.

Soon after the daughter's plea, Jeanne Redd pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of government property, two counts of theft of tribal property and three counts of trafficking in stolen artifacts.Guilty plea in Native American artifacts crackdown

Jeanne Redd was charged with stealing ancient artifacts from public land. Her husband was a Utah doctor who killed himself after his arrest on similar charges.

By Nicholas RiccardiJeanne Redd and her husband had tangled with authorities before over charges of taking relics from public land. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of grave robbery in 1998 and paid a $10,000 settlement for allegedly digging up artifacts on state property. Authorities said the couple had so many artifacts in their home it took federal agents eight hours to catalog them.

Authorities worked with an antiquities dealer who secretly recorded his conversations with the Redds and other defendants. Court papers said Jeanne Redd showed off an ax, mug, pendant and other items, saying they were taken from either tribal or federal land. She also sold the dealer four sandals taken from federal land.

As part of the terms of the plea, Redd must return all artifacts in her possession as well as relinquish computers and a GPS device that authorities say she used to find them.Feds seize Redds' stolen relics

Artifacts trafficking » Officials say the collection was partly stored and partly on display at the home.

By Brandon LoomisFederal agents and archaeologists rolled two rented moving vans up the brushy knoll to a convicted artifact trafficker's adobe home here Tuesday to confiscate a trove of Puebloan Indian heritage.

They plucked artifacts from the home (and even ancient ornaments sprinkled along the driveway) of Jeanne Redd and her late husband, James Redd, a doctor beloved throughout rural San Juan County who killed himself after his arrest last month.

A team of 20, roughly split between FBI and Bureau of Land Management agents and Interior Department archaeologists, spent all day and into the evening at the Redd home wrapping and boxing artifacts for shipment to BLM offices in Salt Lake City, BLM Special Agent Dan Barnes said.Comment:  Vans full of artifacts...computers and a GPS device...the Redds sound like major-league criminals to me. Book 'em, Danno!

For more on the subject, see Blanding's Criminal Culture and Inside the Tomb Raider's Home.

Below:  "Federal agents and archaeologists walk up the driveway to the Redd home south of Blanding Tuesday to search for and haul away artifacts. The turning over of artifacts was part of a plea deal with Jeanne Redd and federal prosecutors." (Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune)