Montana museum employee sentenced for stealing cultural artifacts, including a grizzly bear claw necklace, beaded moccasins, and golden eagle feathers, during a four-month period in 2021. The worker, Preston Jay Spotted Eagle, was given five years of probation, 250 hours of community service, and ordered to pay almost $17,000 in restitution.
According to court documents, surveillance footage revealed that after Spotted Eagle was caught attempting to steal a bear claw necklace from the museum, he tried on historical clothing, compared moccasins to his feet, and took photos of artifacts with his phone. US Attorney Jesse Laslovich stated that Spotted Eagle’s worst action was going through sacred medicine bundles, which caused both physical harm and desecration, in a press release.
In October 2022, Spotted Eagle pled guilty to stealing government property as the art and artifacts at the Museum of the Plains Indian on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation are under federal government management, not the reservation’s. None of the stolen items have been found yet, as per Manhattan Right Now.
This incident is one of many petty crimes at cultural institutions. Recently, a man pleaded guilty to stealing the thumb of a 2,000-year-old terra cotta statue during a holiday party at Philadelphia’s Franklin Museum. Initially, the man faced a 30-year prison sentence for stealing cultural artifacts but was charged with interstate trafficking instead, which carries a potential two-year prison term and a $20,000 fine.