Trial dates set in southern Utah Indian artifacts cases

Trial dates were set Monday for a number of defendants facing charges of stealing and selling artifacts from federal and protected lands, with the government resolving to move its case forward in spite of the death of its confidential source. The future of the case and the 20-plus defendants who are looking for resolutions was questioned after the suicide death of the government's confidential source, Ted Gardiner, whose recordings are believed to have made up the bulk of the prosecution's case. Prosecutors would not identify Gardiner as their source during Monday's hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Samuel Alba, but prosecutor Richard McKelvie said the man known as "the source" was "deceased as of last week" and that the death was not "fatal to any of our cases." "We plan to go forward with the case," McKelvie said. "The only difference is the manner in which we proffer the evidence."...read more