Restitution Ordered in Dinosaur Footprint Theft

Local Editor

Utah man who pleaded guilty in the theft of a priceless fossilized dinosaur footprint that's never been recovered was sentenced Monday to a year of probation and ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution.

Jared Ehlers, 35, in February pried a piece of sandstone with an ancient three-toed dinosaur track from a trail for off-road vehicles near Moab in southeastern Utah, federal prosecutors say.

Authorities believe he got nervous after being questioned in the case and dumped the print - thought to be up to 190 million years old - into the Colorado River.

In court Monday, the Moab man told US District Judge Dale Kimball he regretted pulling up the 150-pound piece of sandstone.

"I don't have a lot to say," Ehlers said. "I'm just extremely sorry for a horrible decision that I made."

Ehlers will serve half his sentence under house arrest. He also will have a felony conviction on his record and be barred from possessing guns. That requirement is significant for Ehlers, who enjoys hunting with his two sons, his attorney Tara Isaacson said.

Ehlers, who co-owns a construction company, spotted the print one day while on the Hell's Revenge jeep trail and noticed it was loose. The fossil was in a well-trafficked area, part of a set of prints on that trail that frequently are driven over, Isaacson said.
"He saw the print, and he didn't think it through - how serious it would be to remove this piece of stone from the area," she said.

Ehlers told friends he took the fossil, and authorities questioned him after discovering it was missing, she said.

He eventually acknowledged pulling up the heavy footprint and driving home with it.

The print is from the Jurassic Period and is up to 190 million years old, according to Bureau of Land Management Paleontologist ReBecca Hunt-Foster. It comes from a large meat-eating dinosaur that likely is an ancestor to dinosaurs like the Allosaurus, she said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team