Florida fossils dealer gets 3 months in prison for smuggling dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia
NEW YORK – A federal judge in New York has sentenced a Florida fossils dealer to three months in prison for smuggling a 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus skeleton out of Mongolia.
Eric Prokopi (proh-KAHP'-ee) of Gainesville also must serve three months in community confinement.
The government said Prokopi smuggled the bones from the Gobi Desert into the U.S. and then assembled them.
The skeleton was sold by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions for more than $1 million. The government said the dinosaur skeleton was mislabeled as reptile bones from Great Britain. The deal was suspended.
The skeleton has been returned to Mongolia.
Eric Prokopi (proh-KAHP'-ee) of Gainesville also must serve three months in community confinement.
The government said Prokopi smuggled the bones from the Gobi Desert into the U.S. and then assembled them.
The skeleton was sold by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions for more than $1 million. The government said the dinosaur skeleton was mislabeled as reptile bones from Great Britain. The deal was suspended.
The skeleton has been returned to Mongolia.
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