Art Restorer Pleads Guilty of Smuggling
A former Santa Barbara art restorer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to have pre-Columbian artifacts smuggled from Peru, but the charges against his wife were dismissed.
David Rand Swetnam, 31, who now lives in Santa Cruz, was indicted by a Los Angeles federal grand jury last November for conspiracy, making false statements to U.S. Customs agents and receiving and procuring smuggled goods.
The indictment, which also named his wife, Jacquelyn, 30, was the result of March 30, 1988, raids by Customs agents on homes and shops of art dealers in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The agents reported seizing more than 1,100 artifacts believed imported illegally from Peru.
Peruvian officials have said that the items were stolen near the 1,500-year-old tomb of Sipan, unearthed last year and regarded as one of the hemisphere’s greatest archeological discoveries.
By pleading guilty on Friday, Swetnam acknowledged paying a Ventura art dealer to smuggle ceramic vases, miniature stone mortars and jewelry into the United States in 1986 and 1987.
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