Metal Detectorist Engaged in "Heartbreaking Destruction" of Civil War Site

.
An unemployed Virginia metal detectorist was convicted on Wednesday of taking more than 9,000 artifacts from the (Civil War period) Petersburg National Battlefield. They included bullets, buckles, cannonballs, breastplates and buttons. John Jeffrey Santo, 52, pleaded guilty in December to two counts of damaging archaeological resources and one count of pillaging Petersburg National Battlefield. He was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge James Spencer to 366 days in prison and must also pay $7,346 restitution to the for damage caused by his excavations. In the raid on the man's girlfriend's home, apart from the artefacts, investigators

found a handwritten journal the man kept of his illegal excavation trips, which happened regularly between 2006 and 2010. "The defendant's journal is a tell-all of his misconduct, identifying with a high degree of specification where he engaged in metal detecting/relic hunting and when and what he recovered," Assistant U.S. Attorney N. George Metcalf wrote in federal court papers. "He even kept a running tally of the items he found from day to day on a yearly basis." Blankenship said in one instance Santo wrote about discovering five buttons in one place, which suggests that a previously undiscovered body of a soldier had been buried there.

Experts say the metal detectorist was engaged in "heartbreaking" destruction of American history:

Relic hunting is like ripping a page from a book, Randy Jones, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, told msnbc.com. Part of an an artifact's true value comes from the context it is discovered in, he explained. "It happens more than we know about," James Blankenship, a historian at the Petersburg National Battlefield, told msnbc.com. "The biggest loss is the loss of historic information." [...] "It's just heartbreaking," Julia Steele, an archaeologist and the battlefield's cultural resource manager told msnbc.com. Steele said Santo systematically pillaged several sites to the point that the scene made her physically ill. With TV shows such as the recently launched "American Digger," Steele said pop culture tends to glorify relic hunting. Many people see it as a "treasure hunt," she said [...] Blankenship said relic hunters are secretive and their transactions rarely leave a paper trail. "This guy was in it for profit," he said. Hidden cameras captured Santo in the act, and Blankenship hopes more will be installed throughout the park. He said law enforcement officers sometimes organize stakeouts, but relic hunters tend to hide in the harder to monitor wooden areas. Blankenship says Santo's acts were "thievery and robbery" and hopes his sentence sends a strong message to other relic hunters.

Santo's attorney argues that due to certain personality disorders "his walks and metal detecting in the National Battlefield with his dog was his only outlet."

MSNBC, 'Civil War relic thief engaged in heartbreaking destruction', March 24, 2012