Prehistoric skull leads to federal law suit in Wichita Falls

A forfeiture lawsuit of a prehistoric nature was filed recently in a federal district court in Wichita Falls that connects Wichita County with Mongolia.

According to court filings in the U.S. District  Court for the Northern District of Texas Wichita Falls Division, an investigation into the removal of a fossilized Tyrannosaurus Bataar skull from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia began on June 11, 2012, when the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations agent in Casper, Wyoming, received a tip. The person providing the tip said a Bataar skull was seen in September 2010 at a store called By Nature in Jackson, Wyoming, and a placard next to the fossil claimed it was a Tyrannosaurus Bataar skull.

The price listed for the skull was $320,000, court records indicate.

The Tyrannosaurus Bataar was around about 70 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. It was a relative to the Tyrannosaurus Rex and an ostrich-like animal called the Gallimimus.

Mongolian law has protected the removal of such cultural and archaeological significance. The Mongolian constitution also prohibits personal or non-state ownership of such items. Removing any such cultural relics is a criminal offense.

An agent investigating the artifact spoke with a clerk at By Nature, who told the agent that the relic was a Tarbosaurus Bataar and was excavated in Mongolia in the 1980s. She told the investigator that the excavator had private property rights, which allowed them to own the fossil from the own land.

The investigating agent had lived and worked in Mongolia and informed the clerk that the property rights claim was incorrect.

An undercover agent went to the By Nature store in Jackson around June 19, 2012, and spoke with clerk Kelly Bradstreet and inquired about the Bataar skull. Bradstreet told the agent that the fossil was about 60 percent complete and that it was recovered from private property in the Gobi Desert in the 1980s.

Agents went back to the store on June 26, 2012, with a search warrant, but Bradstreet said the skull had been removed from display after hearing of another Bataar skull being seized somewhere else. She said they were attempting to avoid potential problems, so it was taken to the house she and her husband lived in.

The house was owned by By Nature co-owner John Richard Rolater.

The agents asked for specific documents related to the skull, but Bradstreet said those were on a computer that Rolater maintained at his home office in Eagle, Colorado.

Agents later went to the Bradstreet home and spoke with Douglas Bradstreet, Kelly's husband and gallery director for By Nature. Douglas told the agents that Rolater told him to remove the skull from the store to avoid problems after a Bataar skull was seized in New York.

The Bradstreets also told investigators that Rolater provided a back story in case questions were being asked about the skull.

Agents located the skull in the Bradstreet home and Customs and Border Protection on Dec. 12, 2012, "administratively forfeited the Bataar as illegally imported."

Rolater was interviewed by agents on June 26, 2012, the court document shows. He said he owned two By Nature stores including the Jackson location and one in Eagle. He said he had sold five for six of the skulls in the past six years. He said he didn't possess any other skulls other than the one the Bradstreets had, but Rolater's attorney told agents he had one at his home in Eagle.

Agents conducted a search of the residence on Aug. 1, 2012, and located the skull in a crawl space. They also discovered a Gallimimus foot in the garage, which had a tag indicating it, too, had come from Mongolia. Both were seized as illegally imported artifacts.

Rolater pleaded guilty on Jan. 2, 2014, to conspiracy to smuggle fossils into the United States.

During the Aug. 1, 2012, search Rolater also told agents that he owned a 66.6 percent interest in By Nature Gallery, Inc., and Dr. James Godwin of Wichita Falls owned the remaining interest. He said he purchased a skull — the skull found in Wichita Falls — was purchased from Vertebrata Reproductions LLC around Jan. 12, 2012, for $190,000 paid in installments.

Rolater told the agent that the skull was transferred to Godwin in May 2012. Court documents indicate the transfer to Godwin was a "pass through"-type transaction, meaning there wasn't a conventional retail sale, rather it was transferred to a co-owner.

Agents obtained a search warrant for a residence in Wichita Falls. Agents interviewed Godwin on July 23, 2013, at which time the Wichita Falls anesthesiologist said he had a Bataar skull that was about 50 percent complete. He said he got it from Rolater about three or four years before.

The agents seized the Bataar skull after conducting a search of the residence.

The forfeiture suit claims there is probable cause to believe the Bataar skull, which is named as the defendant property in the case, was brought into the United States contrary to law and was stolen from Mongolia.

It also claims "there is probable cause to believe the defendant Bataar Skull constitutes merchandise which was introduced into the United States contrary to United States and Mongolian law, and is subject to a restriction or prohibition relating to conservation, as described above, and therefore it is subject to forfeiture."