Is meth fueling artifact thefts?
Meth addict, artifact thief -- or both?
On June 10, Secretary of the Interior (and former Colorado senator) Ken Salazar announced the indictment and arrest of 24 individuals suspected of trafficking in illegally obtained artifacts in the Four Corners area. But who found these items in the first place? One theory: meth addicts.
An article in Grand Junction's Daily Sentinel argues that the artifact/meth link is a dirty little secret among law-enforcement types. Chuck Wheeler, vice president of Boulder-based Western Cultural Resource Management, draws the parallels. "There is definitely a relationship. When people are on meth, they don't sleep, so they can find a site and dig it up at night," he told the Sentinel.
So that's why their fingernails are so dirty....
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