(June 2007) FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - In a relic-hunting case that law-enforcement officials say may be the biggest ever to occur in the National Park Service's Northeast Region, three alleged looters were caught March 11 in Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

According to the park's chief ranger, Keith Kelly, the relic-hunters were found on the Spotsylvania battlefield. Arrested were Jeremy L. Burroughs, 30, Fenton E. Terembes Jr., 28, and Vincent E. Williams, 37, all of Spotsylvania County.

The three were formally charged in the first week of May with felonies involving violations of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA).

Kelly declined to cite details of the incident on account of the pending court case. But he said the number of holes dug by the three men and the number of artifacts removed from the ground made this "one of the largest, if not the largest, ARPA case in Northeast Region history." About 200 relics were recovered, according to Kelly.

He said the park served two search warrants on the homes of two of the three men and recovered artifacts.

Kelly noted that the park had previously convicted Burroughs of a felony under ARPA in the late 1990s for digging on the battlefields. "For a second offense, he's facing possibly five years in jail" and a fine up to a quarter million dollars, Kelly said. "We're hoping for hefty fines."

All three men were charged with unauthorized removal of archaeological resources from public lands, and for conspiracy, punishable by up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Burroughs was charged with a second looting offense. Terembes was also charged with one count of providing a false statement and of being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition, stemming from a prior incident.

In another relic-hunting case, this one on March 17 at the Wilderness battlefield, park officials caught two juveniles. Kelly said about 80 holes were found and some 20 artifacts recovered. A park volunteer spotted the boys using a metal detector during daylight hours.

The two youths are both 16; one is from Spotsylvania County and the other from Orange County. They appeared before a federal magistrate in Charlottesville April 12.

One was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution and was sentenced to 200 hours of community service in the park. The other was ordered to pay $1,372 and serve 150 hours.

The month of March often seems to bring out relic-hunters, Kelly said. "The ground is easy to dig and there are no snakes or bugs yet," he explained. "It also seems to coincide with relic shows in the area." When a relic-hunter can sell a single uniform button for $215, "it's a good deal for him."

Kelly said relic hunting is taken seriously by park officials because digging artifacts from the ground without recording their exact location "removes the context of the battle."

An archaeologist can glean information from shell fragments, bullets and buttons that can tell which regiment was on the spot, the direction of an attack and myriad other factors that help explain battle action, Kelly said.

The park periodically undertakes such digs of its own, particularly when a road-widening or sign installation calls for disturbing the ground.

Kelly said that responsible stewards of a battlefield will always leave ground undisturbed when possible, awaiting a day of improved technology when artifacts may even be able to be detected without removing them. "As technology improves, so do techniques for analyzing the data."

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