4 Charged in Theft of NASA Moon Rocks
Three student employees and another man were charged with stealing a safe full of moon rocks and meteorites from the Johnson Space Center in Houston and trying to sell them, the FBI office in Tampa said.
The items offered for sale by the suspected thieves were kept in a 600-pound safe that was noticed missing July 15, space center spokesman Kyle Herring said. The safe contained lunar samples from every Apollo moon landing.
Undercover FBI agents arrested Thad Roberts, 25, Tiffany Fowler, 22, and Gordon McWorter, 26, in Orlando. They are charged with conspiracy to commit the theft of government property and interstate transportation of stolen property. Shae Saur, 19, was arrested in Houston and charged with conspiracy, FBI officials said.
Roberts, Fowler and Saur have been fired from the space center.
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