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A key figure in a 2009 crackdown on illegal artifact trafficking in the Four Corners region received two years of probation Monday after pleading guilty to a felony.
Joseph M. Smith, 33, of Blanding, faced dozens of charges of trafficking in ancient American Indian artifacts taken from tribal or public lands, but ended up pleading guilty to one count.
His attorneys at first built a defense by arguing the items were worth less than $500 apiece — the threshold for felonies in federal antiquities law — but ultimately learned that he had received an offer beyond that for one item, a turquoise pendant.
Smith's wife, Meredith Smith, also was charged, though prosecutors agreed to a pretrial diversion that will drop the case if she refrains from criminal offenses for six months.
Assistant U.S. Attorney for Utah Richard McKelvie told the court he had expected to seek prison time for Joseph M. Smith because he was an integral figure in the larger sting operation, brokering illegal sales for others. After reading personal accounts of Smith's upstanding citizenship and fatherhood, though, including from Blanding's mayor, he instead asked U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart to sentence him to home confinement with the right to leave for work.
The government's goal in prosecuting these cases was to stop the looting of artifacts from public lands, McKelvie said, and letters submitted on Smith's behalf indicate the case has succeeded.
"Sometimes we risk much by going too far," he said, and it would be "aberrational" to send Smith to prison when every other defendant sentenced so far in the raid has received probation.
Defense attorney Ben Hamilton called Smith "truly a good guy" and said he had developed a fascination for artifacts around his hometown. Before the clampdown, he said, the only thing Smith had ever sold was an arrowhead.
Hamilton argued for probation of just one day, saying that his client already had been under government supervision for two years. He noted that another defendant in the sting, Jeanne Redd, of Blanding, pleaded guilty early and already has had her probation terminated even though she had a previous conviction on state artifacts charges. The government needed two trucks to confiscate artifacts she forfeited. Smith also will give up artifacts, but Hamilton said they will fill just two boxes.
McKelvie agreed that Redd had more items, but said she was a collector who did not sell to the government's operative — as Smith did — but instead traded some items.
Stewart sentenced Smith to 24 months of probation. He sentenced co-defendant Reece Laws to the same probation term. Both men apologized in court for their actions.
Another co-defendant, Tad Kreth, is scheduled for sentencing July 28.
Who has been sentenced so far
Probation » Jeanne Redd, Blanding
Probation » Jericca Redd, Blanding
Probation » Dale Lyman, Blanding
Probation » Brent Bullock, Moab
Probation » Tammy Shumway, Moab
Probation » Nicholas Laws, Blanding
Probation » Robert Knowlton, Grand Junction, Colo.
Probation » Ray Lyman, Blanding
Probation » Aubry Patterson, Blanding
Probation » Brandon Laws, Blanding
Probation » Richard Bourret, Durango, Colo.
Probation • Joseph M. Smith, Blanding
Probation • Reece Laws, Blanding