Prosecutors believe it’s only the second time a case has been charged under a little-known law meant to curb illegal traffic in natural artifacts and historical relics.
"Martin Elze"
End of the tusk: 2 plead guilty to stealing, cutting paleontological resource for profit
The tusk, when it was intact, was thought to have been worth between $7,000 and $9,000, though as a paleontological resource, it was considered by some to be priceless.
Two men charged as feds crack case of missing Anchorage mammoth tusk
Prosecutors are charging two men with stealing a 10,000-year-old mammoth tusk from the federal Bureau of Land Management in Anchorage. The indictment appears to be a break in a case that had gone unsolved since the tusk went missing six months ago.