News Releases
CRAWFORD PLEADS GUILTY TO DAMAGING CHICKAMAUGA BATTLEFIELD
August 08, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia; Gregory Jones, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Sam Weddle, Chief Ranger, National Park Service, Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia, announce that TERRY STEPHEN CRAWFORD, 46, of Catoosa County, Georgia, pleaded guilty today to charges of removing and damaging archaeological resources located on public lands and removing items having commercial and archaeological value. According to Nahmias and the documents and information presented in court:
On August 24, 2003, National Park Rangers asked Crawford and his nephew and co-defendant, SAMUEL E. CLAY, 22, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, about their presence in the Battlefield Park, and Crawford admitted that they had been digging up bullets and other Civil War memorabilia from the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park near Brotherton Field, at Chickamauga Battlefield. CRAWFORD showed the park rangers where they had been digging, and he was found to possess mini balls and other Civil War memorabilia in his backpack. (CLAY failed to appear for his initial federal court appearance in May 2004 and remains a fugitive. Anyone with information on CLAY is asked to call the FBI at 404-679-9000.)
CRAWFORD could receive a maximum of two years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Friday, October 7, 2005, at 1:30 p.m. before United States District Judge Harold L. Murphy.
This case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI and Park Rangers of the National Park Service.
Assistant United States Attorney William G. Traynor is prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact David E. Nahmias (pronounced NAH-me-us), United States Attorney or Yonette Sam-Buchanan, Chief, Terrorism, Violent and Organized Crimes, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.