Therese Apel

Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Six north Mississippians have been sentenced in federal court after being convicted of removing Native American artifacts from government land, including digging in a Native American burial mound.

The U.S. Attorney's office in North Mississippi stated in a release on Monday that Matthew Glen Arnold and Tyler Wilemon, 33, both of Booneville; Robert Alan Aguirre, 29, of Corinth; and Jackie Dale Arnold, 59, Sandra Arnold, 62, and Melinda Jean Arnold, 42, all of Burnsville, were sentenced between the end of September and the middle of October.

The indictment on the group said, among other things, that they "probed, dug, and caused irreparable injury to a Native American sacred mound." The offenses took place between Nov. 6, 2014 and Dec. 4, 2014.

Other court documents stated that Matthew Arnold parked in a gravel parking lot on the Corps of Engineers property near Doskie Mound. On those dates, the defendants walked to the mound carrying shovels and buckets and conducted "unauthorized excavations" as they searched for Native American artifacts. While officials do contend that artifacts were removed, they don't name what kinds of artifacts.

The locations of some historic locations such as Native American burial grounds are often kept somewhat secret in order to discourage people from going to those sites to try to excavate artifacts without permits.

Matthew Glen Arnold entered a guilty plea to six felony counts of excavating and removing archeological resources located on designated historic public lands in violation of the Archeological Resources Protection Act. The charges were in reference to his removal of Native American artifacts from United States Army Corps of Engineers property along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Tishomingo County. Arnold was sentenced to 20 months for each count to be served concurrently, followed by one year of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $41,551.49 in restitution to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for damage to the property.

Aguirre pleaded guilty to two felony counts of excavating and removing archeological resources located on designated historic public lands. He was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $2,865.62 in restitution.

Jackie Arnold, Melinda Arnold, Sandra Arnold and Tyler Wilemon each pleaded guilty to one felony count of excavating and removing archeological resources located on designated historic public lands.

Jackie Arnold was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 15 months and ordered to pay $24,357.77 in restitution. Sandra Arnold was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months and one day ordered to pay $18,626.53 in restitution. Wilemon was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of five months and ordered to pay $7,164.05 in restitution. Each were sentenced to one year of supervised release following their term of incarceration.

Melinda Arnold was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $28,656.20 in restitution.

Two other defendants have plead guilty to similar charges and are currently awaiting sentencing, according to the release from Robert H. Norman, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi.

"We are committed to working with Mississippi, its citizens, the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation and other federal and state agencies to conserve and protect Mississippi's archeological resources which are a non-renewable cultural resource of irreplaceable value, as well as sacred to descendant communities and Native Americans," said Luis Santiago, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in a release.

"The US Army Corps of Engineers is thoroughly committed to the preservation and protection of these irreplaceable cultural treasures, treasures that hold great meaning to Native Americans and belong to the American people,” said Wynne Fuller, Chief of Operations for the Mobile District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Contact Therese Apel at 601-961-7236 or tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.