http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-062902a.html
Honduran moon rock on trial
Collect Space
UPDATES: Jul 8 | Jul 13 | Jul 24 | Mar 4
March 4, 2003 -- The trial of a lucite-encased moon rock allegedly smuggled
into the U.S. from Honduras began yesterday, according to a report filed by the
Associated Press. After just two hours of testimony, U.S. District Judge
Adalberto Jordan promised to rule in two to three weeks as to whether the rock
was stolen.
Alan Rosen, the Florida businessmen who claimed the Apollo 17 lunar sample as
his after allegedly purchasing it from a retired Honduran colonel, was the trial's
only witness. In addition to recounting his story (see earlier updates below),
Rosen offered a contract in Spanish as proof of his legal claim.
Rosen believes the rock is worth $5 million, based on a report that a similar gift
to Nicaragua sold for as much as $10 million. If the judge awards the
lucite-encased sample, Rosen's rock could be the first Apollo recovered lunar
specimen to be brokered on the U.S. market.
July 24 -- Gregory Lewis, writing for the Sun-Sentinel, interviewed Rosen and
collectSPACE member Bill Ayrey to file an update. From his article we learn:
o Rosen believes "his" case is responsible for Americans knowing moon
rocks exist: "I don't think if you took a poll up until it was seized, that
one American in 10,000, perhaps 100,000, and maybe even a million ever
heard of [moon rocks]."
o Gregory writes that it was Rosen who received the truck (and rock) in
return for a payment of $50,000.
o Gregory cites Rosen's attorney, Peter S. Herrick of Miami, as claiming
that "no law prohibits [Rosen] or anyone else from possessing a moon
rock."
o Ayrey weighs in with his prediction of the outcome: "I'm sure that any
court will see to it that it's returned to Honduras, to whom it rightly
belongs."
July 13 -- CNN aired a live interview with Alan Rosen and collectSPACE
editor Robert Pearlman today. Though mostly a summary of what was already
reported, there were a few new details and/or corrections:
o Contrary to our previous update based on The Miami Herald's article,
Rosen confirmed our original report regarding the price paid for the
rock: "The price was actually around $50,000."
o Rosen's valuation of the rock seems to have risen quite a bit. Despite our
own on-air opinion that "...it's not a [far] stretch to say that at a really
[well-publized] auction like Christie's or Sotheby's that it could reach
upward of $1 million or $2 million," Rosen is of a different mind: "I
was convinced that... because of the publicity and somewhat notoriety
of it that the value could be well up into the tens or $15 million."
o Rosen restated his intentions that he means to share whatever proceeds
he reaps with the people of Honduras: "Well, basically, my intention
was not just to make a profit. My intention was because I had spent over
35 years traveling and working and doing various businesses in the
country to finance various businesses... [perhaps] to provide low interest
loans for agriculture and artisans and mini- businesses, and certainly
the need in Honduras is great. I have two children that are
half-Honduran, and a lot of family of theirs is down there, and I have
many friends."
o Rosen cited that Honduras has another moon rock: "The Hondurans have
a second plaque. It was presented in 1975 from the Apollo 11 program."
o A correction/retraction: at the close of the interview, Pearlman was
asked if the rock should be returned... to Alan. "I didn't hear [to Alan]
and therefore answered in the affirmative based on my belief, based on
Honduran law, that the rock should be returned to the country. In my
opinion, it should not be awarded to Rosen."
We are working to make a video clip of the segment available for download in the
coming days. Our appreciation to Keren Schiffman at CNN for including
collectSPACE in this report.
July 8 -- Scott Andron with The Miami Herald offers new details in his article
"Legal Battle Is Over The Moon: Pines man, government fight for lunar rock":
o According to Andron, the "retired Honduran military officer" who sold
the rock to Rosen was named Roberto Agurcia Ugarte.
Ugarte first offered the rock for $1 million, but Rosen had to pass not
having the funds. A year later, they reached a deal: "$20,000 plus a truck
valued at an additional $10,000" (contrary to our earlier reported $50K
and said truck).
o Rosen did not carry the rock back from Honduras, but instead "accepted
delivery of the plaque at a Denny's near Miami International Airport."
It is not said who smuggled the rock into the United States.
o Why sue the rock? According to Andron, the case was filed as a
"forfeiture in rem...essentially a request for federal judge to identify
the rock's rightful owner." Assistant U.S. Attorney James H. Swain
has requested a summary judgement, which if granted would avoid a full
trial.
o Finally, Rosen says if allowed to sell the rock, he's interested in sharing
the proceeds with Honduras, "perhaps by establishing a nonprofit bank
to make low-interest loans to small businesses there."
Meanwhile, courtesy AP reporter Cathy Wilson, we now have the Honduran law
findings prepared for and at the request of the court by Keith S. Rosenn, Professor
of Law at the University of Miami (not to be confused with Alan Rosen, the
moon rock dealer). We may still reprint his entire letter, but here are his
conclusions:
The moon rock and the plaque became inalienable national
property of public use of the Republic of Honduras in 1973 as
a result of a completed gift by President Nixon. Enactment of
special legislation is necessary to alienate them, and no such
legislation was enacted. Whoever took them from the Casa
Presidencial committed larceny, making the rock and plaque
stolen property.
Neither Rosen nor his Honduran associates could have
acquired good title to the plaque and moon rock under
Honduran law. Good title to stolen property can be acquired
by the running of the statute of limitations, but the statute of
limitations does not run against national property of public
use.
Because the rock and the plaque were stolen property, their
exportation from Honduras would also have been unlawful
regardless of the applicability of the Laws on Cultural
Patrimony or the 1997 Tax Code. This is because Article 388
of the Penal Code, which deals with the covering up of a
crime, makes it a criminal offense "to procure the
disappearance of evidence of a crime." The plaque and moon
rock are indeed evidence of a crime, and exportation of them
to the United States is an act that procures their
disappearance as evidence for any Honduran authority
seeking to prosecute anyone for theft of those items.
June 29 -- This is the tale of a rock.
Not just any rock mind you, but a moon rock. A 1.142-gram, 3.9 billion
year old sample collected by the crew of Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Like other moon rocks, this sample made the quarter of a million mile trip
to Earth and ultimately wound up in NASA's Lunar Receiving Lab in
Houston, Texas.
Had that been where this rock's journey ended, this wouldn't be much
of a story.
However, unlike the majority of the 244.2 pounds (111 kilograms) of material
delivered by astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, this rock didn't
remain in Houston very long.
Three months later, encased in a Lucite ball and mounted to a wooden plaque,
President Nixon presented the rock to the Honduran government, along with the
country's flag which had made its own trip to and from the Moon.
That, in of itself, wasn't so unusual -- in March 1973, Nixon gifted several
countries with samples of the same source rock (No. 70017) as the Hondurans
received. In total, of the 842 pounds assembled by the Apollo missions,
three-fifths of a pound was gifted to foreign heads of state.
The details of what happened to this particular rock between 1973 and 1995 are
few and far between. What is certain is that sometime during the 22 years,
Honduras' lunar sample went missing.
Perhaps this is a good time to introduce Florida resident Alan Rosen.
In 1995, Rosen purchased the rock from a retired Honduran military officer who
in turn, had claimed to receive it as a gift.
In court documents obtained by the Associated Press, Rosen is said to have "agreed
to buy it for $50,000 plus a truck but ended up paying less."
Ignoring for a moment whether the Honduran government actually gave away a
piece of the Moon, the fact remains that Rosen took ownership of the rock and
brought it back to the United States.
In November 1996, Rosen had the sample tested at Harvard University, where
"Electron Microprobe Specialist" David Lange confirmed in a letter that "the
mineral compositions and textural information are consistent with the rock chip
being a sample from lunar rock 70017."
Rosen then had Lange's findings reviewed and confirmed by Ronald Bishop of the
Smithsonian Institution.
Apparently satisified with its authenticity, Rosen responded to a September 1998,
advertisement seeking moon rocks with an offer to sell his sample for $5 million.
What Rosen couldn't know was that the ad, which appeared in USA Today, was
part of "Operation Lunar Eclipse", a sting operation organized by customs agents,
postal inspectors and NASA.
Meeting with Rosen on November 18, 1998, undercover agents (posing as buyers)
seized the rock from his safety deposit box at a Miami area bank.
Rosen was not arrested. His purchase of the rock was not at issue, but that he had
not declared it at customs when he returned from Honduras.
The U.S. Government wants to return the sample to Honduras, who for their part
deny ever relinquishing ownership.
To decide its fate, the moon rock will now stand trial before a federal judge. In
"United States v. Lucite ball containing lunar material", lawyers for the U.S.
Justice Department will attempt to have Rosen's claim dismissed and in doing so,
gain control of the sample's future.
As for Rosen, he told the Associated Press he hopes a compromise will return the
rock to him.
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