LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A new partnership to protect Lake County's rich American Indian heritage yielded results over the weekend, when a Lake County Sheriff's deputy arrested a man whose vehicle was filled with what officials say are artifacts looted from county archaeological sites.
Brian Gene Smith, 41, a transient from Santa Rosa who most recently has been in the Lower Lake area, was arrested on Saturday, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Brooks said Smith was booked on felony counts of possession of American Indian artifacts and vandalism, and misdemeanors including removing or injuring any object of archaeological or historical interest, being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana.
Jail records indicate that Smith has since been released from jail.
Brooks said the sheriff's office hasn't dealt with a case like this in recent years, although it has responded to reports that involved the discovery of very old human remains.
However, the case illustrates what officials say is a type of crime that has huge national and international implications and is worth billions worldwide.
Smith's arrest by Deputy Richard Kreutzer also is notable for its timing: It came just two days after the conclusion of a law enforcement training on archaeological crimes that the Lake County Sheriff's Office and local tribes had collaborated to offer.
The archaeological violation investigation class, led by Missoula, Mont.-based Archaeological Damage Investigation and Assessment ( http://www.archaeologicaldamageinvestigation.com ), took place Aug. 18 to 20, with Habematolel Pomo Chair Sherry Treppa offering Running Creek Casino as the host venue.
Kreutzer was among a group of law enforcement officials that included other members of the Lake County Sheriff's Office and Clearlake Police Department, State Parks law enforcement officers – including one who traveled from San Diego County – along with an investigator from Humboldt County, according to Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin.
Martin McAllister of Archaeological Damage Investigation & Assessment led the class. McAllister is an archaeologist whose team also includes two retired federal criminal investigators.
He said his firm specializes not just in trainings but in archaeological damage assessment and assists law enforcement agencies across the United States with documenting and collecting evidence.
“It’s a really serious problem,” McAllister told Lake County News about the crime of archaeological looting. “It's much more serious than the American public realizes.”
In the United States alone, stolen artifacts form the basis of a multimillion dollar industry, and the most recent figure he's heard from Interpol is that it is a $7 billion annual industry worldwide.
It's in the top five crimes in terms of money made, he said, adding, “It’s a big money maker.”
The Koi Nation, Upper Lake Habematolel Pomo and the Lake County Sheriff's Office partnered to sponsor the training, with an invitation issued to law enforcement across Northern California, Martin said.
“It's giving us another tool for keeping our community safe,” Martin said.
Dino Beltran, tribal administrator and treasurer for the Koi Nation, responded to word of Smith's case with praise for local law enforcement, including the sheriff's office and the Lake County District Attorney's Office.
“This is the beginning of expanding collaborative efforts to make our community a safer place,” Beltran said.
Raising awareness for law enforcement
Beltran said about two years ago Bill Salata, superintendent for the California State Parks' Clear Lake Sector, presented a class on archaeological crimes and damage. Beltran attended the class, noting all of the other attendees were State Parks peace officers.
About six months afterward, Beltran founded Ancestors 1, a consortium of local tribal members that seeks to protect the cultural resources that go back some 21,000 years to the Clear Lake Basin's aboriginal peoples, while also promoting development.
He said his tribe helps monitor Anderson Marsh State Park, and one of the tribal members one day spotted some people out in the park disturbing an archaeological site. A State Park ranger responded and cited the individuals.
Beltran said he wanted to know if they would actually be prosecuted, and so he met with District Attorney Don Anderson, who pledged to pursue a case.
Separately, Beltran wanted the training to be presented for local law enforcement.
Martin said Beltran brought the training proposal to him at a meeting of local law enforcement officials held in Clearlake earlier this year.
The training was appealing because it recognized the importance of Lake County's American Indian history, Martin said.
He said his other interest in it was that, because of Proposition 47 – which reduced some felonies to misdemeanors – as well as California's criminal realignment, law enforcement has been unable to take criminals off the streets due to some crimes.
Archaeological crimes, he said, often are wrapped up with a variety of other criminal activity. Understanding how to investigate and pursue such cases, he said, is “giving us another tool for keeping our community safe.”
McAllister said the training was the first his firm has offered that was co-hosted by a sheriff’s office and tribal groups. Usually, such trainings are hosted by big federal or state agencies.
The training tries to raise the consciousness of law enforcement officers about the seriousness of the crimes, he said.
He said he interacted with Kreutzer during the class. “It was obvious that he was getting the message and really taking it seriously.”
Through the training, the attendees learned that Lake County contains several hundred archaeological sites associated with local tribes, according to Brooks.
Martin said that everyone who took the class came to realize the importance of dealing with archaeological crimes, and some of the officers wondered if if they had been seeing such items throughout their careers but not recognizing them.
An unexpected case
Just before noon on Saturday, two days after the training ended, Kreutzer contacted Smith behind a business in the 16000 block of Main Street in Lower Lake, Brooks said.
Brooks explained that Kreutzer's original contact with Smith had nothing to do with looted artifacts, but rather an inappropriate letter Smith had allegedly left for a 14-year-old girl.
When Kreutzer found Smith, he was standing behind his white van, with the double doors open. As Kreutzer exited his patrol vehicle, Smith walked toward him and said he could explain the note, stating the individual he intended to receive the note was older than 14, but admitted he had only seen her from a distance, Brooks said.
Brooks said that during Kreutzer's contact with Smith, he noticed Smith was exhibiting the signs and symptoms of being under the influence of a central nervous system stimulant. He asked for Smith’s cooperation in a series of tests to determine whether or not he was under the influence of illicit drugs, but Smith refused to comply and became increasingly agitated.
Smith told Kreutzer at that point that he only smoked marijuana and if he was going to be arrested, then just do it, Brooks said.
Kreutzer approached the rear of Smith’s van and immediately detected the strong odor of marijuana emitting from inside the vehicle. He looked inside the van and noticed a clear plastic baggie containing marijuana, which he seized, Brooks said.
Brooks said Kreutzer searched the vehicle, locating inside the pocket of a pair of pants a glass pipe stained with a white residue in the stem and a brown substance in the bowl. Kreutzer recognized it as the type of pipe used to ingest methamphetamine. The residue was consistent in color to that of methamphetamine and the pipe appeared to contain a usable amount.
It was when Kreutzer continued searching the vehicle that he began to find the artifacts, Brooks said.
The artifacts included various pieces of obsidian and other rocks which were shaped into points and clay pottery bowls, Brooks said.
Some of the artifacts had index cards attached to them describing the item and the date it was located. Brooks said some of the index cards also described the location the items were taken and the depth of the soil where they were found.
Kreutzer also located a flash drive which contained images of Smith holding a rifle, with another male subject holding obsidian points taken from an unknown location, Brooks said.
Several of the archaeological sites identified on the index cards are located around Clear Lake and have been exposed by recent drought conditions, Brooks said.
Brooks said Kreutzer's recent training led him to immediately recognize the items as being historically significant artifacts, likely associated with burial sites.
The removal of such items is a public offense, Brooks said, and desecration of an American Indian burial site is a felony under the California Health and Safety Code.
After Kreutzer completed the vehicle search, he went to talk to Smith, who spontaneously said he was going to return the items to the tribes and that he was writing a book on the subject, Brooks said.
Kreutzer compared the letter Smith had written to the 14-year-old girl with the index cards describing the artifacts and where they were found, noticing that the writing appeared to be similar, said Brooks.
Brooks said Kreutzer also contacted an archaeologist who is going to review the seized items and make a determination as to where they may have originated and confirm their cultural significance.
Before this case, Brooks said the sheriff's office had minimal contacts with Smith. His only previous arrest locally was in June of 2013 for a warrant.
Brooks said there also is the possibility of widening the investigation to try to identify a possible accomplice – the man shown holding artifacts in pictures on the flash drive found in the van.
The locations from which the items were taken are not being disclosed in order to protect the sites, Brooks said.
McAllister said his firm was happy to hear of the arrest, and Beltran was pleased with how quickly the training yielded results.
“The class ends on Thursday, Deputy Rick makes the arrest on Saturday,” Beltran said.
Added Martin, “What are the odds?”
A crime that's been occurring for many years
McAllister said that crimes involving artifacts usually are connected to other types of crime – from child pornography to illegal weapons and drugs.
“The real serious looters are basically outlaws,” and are looking for ways to make money, he said.
He said the artifact market has seen many prehistoric items coming into it from hundreds of thousands of sites across the continent.
As in Smith's case, looters typically like to take photos of the items they take and themselves at the scene, McAllister said. “This is pretty common with these guys, they kind of have a trophy mentality.”
He said the drought as well as recent wildland fires have led to many archaeological sites now being exposed, which makes them more visible – and more vulnerable – to looting.
To illustrate the impact of wildland fire, Brooks said that during the recent Rocky fire, fire crews found bones in the fire area.
The sheriff's office called in Dr. John Parker, a local archaeologist who has studied Lake County's tribes since he was a Sonoma State student in the 1970s.
“It turned out to be a young bear,” said Parker, noting there was a leg and rib bone. “But you never know.”
Parker began identifying archaeological sites at Anderson Marsh while a student, and remembered sitting out doing his homework with his camera by his side, and using it to photograph looters who casually went through the area retrieving items.
One day after seeing looters at work, he walked over to what was a village site and found human bones strewn all over the ground. Looters, he added, go after burials to find artifacts.
“Everybody in Lake County has got an arrowhead they've picked up somewhere or another,” he said, adding that they often don't know it's against the law.
He added that many people often think they have arrowheads, when what they really have 99 percent of the time are spear or dart points. The difference is that an arrowhead is no longer than three-quarters of an inch, and is only as wide as an arrow shaft.
Parker said there is 14,000 years of spear points documented in Lake County – used for the 7-foot spears commonly used by tribes in the area – versus the arrowheads that began showing up 500 years before the Europeans arrived. Why bows and arrows suddenly appeared isn't known.
He said some people have huge collections of arrowheads or points, many of which in recent years have been donated to the local museums.
Every time someone picks up one of those items, “They're removing a piece of the puzzle,” Parker said.
“Most artifacts that come out of the ground are not associated with burials,” said Parker.
The law requires that any human remains and any objects identified as grave goods that have been looted be repatriated, while other artifacts have to be curated at a museum or another curation facility. Some tribes have their own such facilities, although Parker doesn't believe there are any in Lake County now.
When repatriation is necessary, Parker said there is a process that involves law enforcement, notification to state officials and, ultimately, to the likely tribal descendants of the individuals whose remains have been found.
When prosecutions are involved, the case has to be fully adjudicated before materials can be returned because the items are evidence, he said.
Once the case is over, they can be turned over to a tribe or to a group like the Lake County Historical Society, for which Parker is this year's vice president and also the group's curation/collections manager.
Beltran said each tribe approaches the process of repatriating items and remains in their own way, according to their own traditions, keeping records of such issues confidential.
As for how the prosecution in this case could play out, McAllister said in this case there appeared to have been clear violations of state archaeological protection laws.
However, he said such cases can be pursued under either state or federal law, depending on the jurisdiction overseeing the looted sites. Tribal lands, he added, would be protected by federal law.
Beltran said the tribes – which have “boots on the ground” to alert law enforcement in such looting cases – are looking forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the Lake County Sheriff's Office, District Attorney's Office, Lake County Planning and the Lake County Board of Supervisors.
He said those individuals who have been selling artifacts for years “should know their easy street’s over.”
Beltran said tribal members lovingly care for their children, respect and love their elders and also have the utmost respect for their ancestors and where they came from.
While the legacy of those men and women from long ago has been threatened by looting and acts of desecration for many years, now – thanks to the new partnership to protect Lake County's native heritage – Beltran said, “The ancestors are not alone any longer.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Archaeological looting case illustrates threat to native culture; new collaboration tackles problem
- Elizabeth Larson
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