A Gainesville man arrested in October accused of importing stolen dinosaur fossils from Asia plead guilty before a New York judge on Dec. 27.
As part of his plea, Eric Prokopi agreed to forfeit a 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton he allegedly stole from Mongolia and sold for about $1 million, according to the U.S. State Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Prokopi, a 38-year-old Gainesville resident and self-described “commercial paleontologist,” will also give up two additional Tyrannosaurus bataar skeletons, as well as Sauolophus and Oviraptor fossils.
Prokopi was charged with conspiracy to smuggle illegal goods, entry of goods by means of false statements and interstate and foreign transport of goods converted and taken by fraud. If convicted, he faces a total of 17 years in prison for the charges, according to State Attorney’s Office news release.
“Fossils and ancient skeletal remains are part of the fabric of a country’s natural history and cultural heritage, and black marketeers like Prokopi, who illegally export and sell these wonders, steal a slice of that history,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wrote in a statement.
From 2010 to 2012, Prokopi allegedly stole dinosaur skeletons from Mongolia and imported them into the U.S. He is also accused of providing U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials false information about the fossils’ origin, value and identity.
Early last year, Prokopi listed a Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton for auction through Heritage Auctions, an auctioning website. On May 20, an anonymous buyer from Manhattan bought the fossil for about $1 million dollars. The next day, U.S. government officials seized the skeleton at the request of the Mongolian government.
That same month, Prokopi also sold the remains of a Saurolophus angustirostris, a dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period, for $75,000 to I.M. Chait, an auction house located in Beverly Hills.
In October, agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested Prokopi at his house on the 5900 block of Southwest 13th Street.
A New York judge will sentence Prokopi on April 25. With Prokopi’s guilty plea, Bharara praised investigators for their work in the case.
“We are pleased that we can now begin the process of returning these prehistoric fossils to their countries of origin,” he said.
Contact Chris Alcantara at calcantara@alligator.org.
