Treasure Hunters Beware: Digging Up Graves in Search of Treasure Is Illegal 

In the immortal words of mothers everywhere: Just don’t do it. Especially on Federal land. A Utah man searching for the famous (and now found) Forrest Fenn treasure decided to do something a little different than just look under rocks: In 2019 and early 2020, Rodrick Dow Craythorn, 52, dug up graves at Fort Yellowstone Cemetery. The 1888 cemetery was in Yellowstone National Park. Craythorn had pled guilty to excavating or trafficking in archeological resources and injury or depredation to United States property recently before being found guilty in court by the U.S. Department of Justice.  He received a sentence of six months of imprisonment plus six months of home detention, to be followed by two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $31,566 in restitution.

In 2010, Fenn, a New Mexico art dealer, had announced he buried a chest filled with gold and jewels in the Rocky Mountain area. The treasure was found in June 2020 by Jack Stuef, a 32-year-old medical student from Michigan.

Yellowstone National Park Norris Geyser Basin.
Photo: NYPost.com; AP Photo/Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Sean Sperry, file