Death of undercover informant throws Southwest artifact looting case into uncertainty

Informant’s death throws artifacts case into doubt

SALT LAKE CITY — The prosecution of the largest-ever American Indian artifacts looting case has been rattled by the apparent suicide of the government informant who broke open the investigation during more than two years of undercover work.

The death marks the third suicide in the case since investigators announced last June that they had charged more than two dozen people with illegally excavating, collecting and dealing artifacts including pottery, stone pipes and ancient jewelry.

Two defendants killed themselves shortly after their arrests, and now the government has lost its most important witness to a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Ted Gardiner wore a wire and transmitted live video and audio signals to federal agents who monitored his transactions with a cast of dealers and collectors in Western states.

Court documents and interviews with Gardiner showed that he was troubled by a divorce battle and money and alcohol problems. Gardiner was a 52-year-old former grocery chain CEO and acknowledged artifacts expert and dealer.

Gardiner also battled with his FBI handlers over his compensation and his demand for security from threats he perceived because of his pivotal role in a sting operation that led to charges against 26 people in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

“My dirty laundry doesn’t have anything to do with this case,” Gardiner told The Associated Press in one of a series of lengthy interviews last year before federal agents ordered him to stop talking.

Gardiner was said to have been bothered by the suicide of two defendants and felt sympathy for them.

“I was in these people’s homes,” Gardiner told the AP in July. “I was considered a close family friend.”

More recently he seemed despondent to his 23-year-old son.

“He had a history of mental problems and substance abuse, and this case seemed to aggravate those problems,” Dustin Gardiner said Wednesday. “The two suicides laid on him heavily.”

Gardiner provided evidence that prosecutors said was essential to bringing charges: He and defendants discussed digging in camouflage or by moonlight and looting in spring when the dirt softens up and before the heat of summer. At another point, the informant watched a suspect dig up an ancient burial site and kicked out a skull on the third shovelful.

Government prosecutors are reassessing how to proceed without the live testimony of Gardiner, and will have to rely on the audio and video evidence he helped gather before his death.

He was expected to testify at the first trial of one of the defendants on March 29 — a date that has now been thrown into doubt, according to U.S. Attorney for Colorado David Gaouette.

“We’re assessing the status of the evidence as it now exists,” Gaouette said Wednesday. “There are ways to get videotaped evidence into trial without having the individual present.”

One defense attorney said Gardiner’s death has thrown the case into disarray.

“It’s wild, sad. That’s three deaths in this case,” said Mark Moffat, who represents two of the Utah defendants. “I’ve been doing this for 23 years, and I never had an informant pass away between indictment and trial. It’s caught us off guard. We’re trying to figure out what it means.”

Gardiner’s 89-year-old father, who sparked his son’s interest in artifacts from an early age, was distraught.

“I’m afraid I got him started on it. I took him on a walk when he found his first arrowhead,” Dan Gardiner said. “I should have thrown it in the bush.”

Two of the 26 defendants — a Santa Fe, N.M., salesman and a prominent Blanding, Utah, physician — committed suicide after their arrests in June.

The case almost produced a fourth suicide. A month ago, San Juan County Sheriff Mike Lacy had to “talk down” a relative who was despondent over charges against a defendant.

“This has created a lot of backlash in my community, and will for a long time,” said Lacy, who has been critical of what he called heavy-handed arrests by federal agents last June. “I was upset with the raids. It contributed to all the bad things.”

The sheriff’s brother was caught up in the dragnet.

David Lacy, a 55-year-old a high-school math teacher, was accused of selling a woman’s prehistoric loin cloth, a turkey feather blanket, a decorated digging stick, a set of knife points and other artifacts for more than $11,000. He has pleaded not guilty.

Gaouette said the trial in Colorado — of a former used-car salesman named Robert B. Knowlton — will move forward, but he did not know when.

A status hearing for lawyers is set for Monday in Utah, where most of the cases are being prosecuted and where the investigation originated.

Federal authorities, who have never acknowledged Gardiner’s identity, declined to comment on the impact of his death.

“We believe it is not appropriate for us to discuss the strength of any case being prosecuted by our office,” said Melodie Rydalch, a spokesman for acting U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen in Salt Lake City.