Illegal Relic Hunter Is Sentenced
By Deborah Fitts
- June 2002- MANASSAS, Va

A man convicted of relic-hunting in Manassas National Battlefield Park has been sentenced to pay $2500 to advertise in local papers warning against the illegal activity.

Kurt Moser, 25, of Tremont, Pa., was caught one night early last August as he and a companion were digging up artifacts along a trail that follows the park's unfinished railroad bed, a key feature of the battlefield.

In December Moser pled guilty to one felony count for violation of the federal Archaeological Re-sources Protection Act, plus one misdemeanor count involving relic-hunting at Gettysburg National Military Park. Besides the $2500 for newspaper advertising, he was sentenced to two years' probation and compensatory damages of $1840.

Manassas Park Ranger Scott Ryan said he nabbed Moser and Bruce Kemmery, 47, of Hamburg, Pa., around 1:30 a.m. as the two men, clad in camouflage outfits, were employing metal detectors and digging with Buck knives. Park officials counted 36 holes along a half-mile of the trail.

Kemmery faces sentencing July 12. Ryan said that while Moser cooperated with law-enforcement officials and prosecutors, Kemmery did not, and agreed to plead guilty only after he was indicted by a grand jury. His two charges were identical to Moser's. Ryan said that because of Moser's cooperation he was treated "more leniently," and Kemmery will receive a stiffer sentence. As part of his plea he has already agreed to pay $2500 for advertising, plus restitution of $8259.

The two men provided a photographic record of their crime, according to Ryan. A search warrant at Moser's house turned up photos that documented the pair's tourist activities at the Manassas park during the day, while at night the photos depict relics laid out on the motel room floor.

The two men were caught on what Ryan said was actually their second relic-hunting visit, following another at the park the previous week. The park recovered about 30 minie and musket balls, a metal plate, a roll-top from a can, a brass ornament, an artillery fragment, a button fragment, and a mass of lead from bullets that had melted together.
One of the most interesting items was a rare, .69-caliber minie ball made in Austria, a type of bullet that was imported by the South.

According to Ryan, Kemmery was convicted in 1995 of possession of a metal detector on the Gettysburg battlefield, a misdemeanor, after a park ranger found him walking along a road carrying the detector and a sack with camouflage clothing.