52-year-old Rodrick Dow Craythorn of Syracuse, Utah, has been sentenced to six months of imprisonment plus six months of home detention, to be followed by two years of supervised release for excavating and damaging archeological resources in the cemetery of the Fort Yellowstone National Historic Landmark in Yellowstone National Park.
He was also ordered to pay $31,566 in restitution. Craythorn was found digging in Fort Yellowstone’s cemetery in late 2019 and early 2020, while looking for the Forrest Fenn Treasure.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, art dealer Forrest Fenn had buried a chest of gold, silver, and gems believed to be worth millions of dollars in the western United States and then left a clue-filled poem to solve its location.
Craythorn believed those clues led him to Yellowstone. Rangers and special agents of the National Park Service discovered seventeen sites of illegal excavation, including damage to an historic grave.
Craythorn did not find the treasure during his criminal adventure. It was found later elsewhere in Wyoming by another person.
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