Fish & Wildlife Officers Break Up Alleged Looting Ring

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA—While investigating reports of looting on state lands, officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrested 13 people and broke up an operation said to have plundered an estimated $2 million-worth of Paleo-Indian artifacts. “This is not a family or a hiker out there who finds an arrowhead. We did not target those kinds of people. We were targeting the main dealers and looters who are driving this market,” said FWC Major Curtis Brown. The stolen artifacts were sold at trade shows, online, and on the black market. Those artifacts that were recovered as a result of the investigation will be handed over to the Florida Department of State.