Fenn's treasure

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highpilgrim
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by highpilgrim »

Another interesting story on the bonanza (or not).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... nn-rockies
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Scott P
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Scott P »

highpilgrim wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 7:28 am Another interesting story on the bonanza (or not).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... nn-rockies
What a scum bag. I didn't know he was one of the grave robbers in the Four Corners area and that's how he made his fortune.

Also, the likelihood of someone from "back east" being led right there from the vague clues is close to zero.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by highpilgrim »

Scott P wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 7:53 am What a acum bag. I didn't know he was one of the grave robbers in the Four Corners area and that's how he made his fortune.
Seems like he'd been manipulative with the women he encountered as part of the "hunt" as well.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Scott P »

highpilgrim wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 9:34 am
Scott P wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 7:53 am What a acum bag. I didn't know he was one of the grave robbers in the Four Corners area and that's how he made his fortune.
Seems like he'd been manipulative with the women he encountered as part of the "hunt" as well.
Yes. The guy belonged in prison.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Monster5 »

I too think people should be condemned to prison based on anecdotal gossip related to profit seeking ventures by thousands of disgruntled seekers.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by XterraRob »

Fenn was Willy Wonka and the prize was finding yourself at the end of the adventure.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Scott P »

Monster5 wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:00 am I too think people should be condemned to prison based on anecdotal gossip related to profit seeking ventures by thousands of disgruntled seekers.
The fact that he was illegally looting, grave robbing, and destroying archaeology sites is not rumor/gossip. He was caught on camera.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Monster5 »

... yet never charged. Methinks we're missing some data.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Scott P »

Monster5 wrote: Thu Sep 17, 2020 9:12 pm ... yet never charged. Methinks we're missing some data.
He was never charged because by the time the raid took place he owned a ruin and could claim (whether true or not) that everything came from there in the past four years which is the max time for the statute of limitations. He was caught in the past though. Just because the statute of limitations had passed does not make one innocent.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Monster5 »

Your defense for using anecdotal evidence to condemn someone is to provide more anecdotal evidence. I see the various news clippings and attorney quote snippets, but those frankly aren't solid sources. All we truly know is that agents raided his home and declined to press charges. All else available is anecdote.

What people claim he has done is illegal. But due process suggests that people prove what they claim, and that hasn't been done. By the lack of charges, it might suggest it hasn't been done because it can't be done and the reasons for that amount to fragmented speculation.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Scott P »

Monster5 wrote: Fri Sep 18, 2020 12:12 am What people claim he has done is illegal.
It wasn't just others. Fenn himself claimed that he got some of the items from public land.

He had (or claimed to have) items from Pecos Church, which is NPS land.

He had (or claimed to have) a stone axe and other items from a site near Casa Verde.

Here is a quote from Fenn himself (which was recorded on tape) when he was talking to the informant:

"(We'd) find these things (ruins) from the air, and then on the weekends we'd go in there . I had an old Army jeep . We found so many caves that evidently nobody had been in since the Indians had been there . Clear Creek. Beaver Creek.'"

Both of these places are on public land (in fact I'm only a few miles from them right now as I type this on the phone).

The reason he wasn't charged is because the statute of limitations had already passed for the items that Fenn admitted or claimed to have come from public lands.

So yes , maybe the evidence could be considered merely anecdotal. But, at least some of the anecdotal evidence came from Fenn himself.
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Re: Fenn's treasure

Post by Monster5 »

Right, and that's sort of my case in point! An article claims that an informer recorded Fenn saying "X."

While my own words have been recorded in various magazines or articles several times, there have always been journalistic liberties taken such that I don't put much stock into third-hand sources sans the full recording.
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