Former parks service official sentenced for stealing ancient human remains from Effigy Mounds

CEDAR RAPIDS - Patt Murphy says he'll never accept an apology from Thomas Munson, retired National Park Service superintendent, who was sentenced Friday in federal court for stealing ancient human remains of 41 Native Americans from Effigy Mounds National Monument collection.

'I want to speak for the relatives of the old ones (deceased tribe members),” said Murphy, a member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, in a victim's impact statement. 'This was a racist and bigoted act. Thomas Munson stole them and then dumped them into cardboard boxes.”

Murphy said Munson gave 'misinformation,” and 'lied time after time,” in saying the bones were animal bones when he took them in 1990.

'That's what he considers us ... animals,” Murphy said. 'The old ones are still waiting for this to be over ... so they can move on to the spirit world.”

U.S. Chief Magistrate Jon Scoles on Friday sentenced Munson, 76, of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, to one year of probation. He must serve 10 consecutive weekends in jail and perform 100 hours of community service. He also was ordered to pay $108,905 in restitution to repair the 2,135 whole and fragmentary human remains and a fine of $3,000.

Munson pleaded guilty in January to one misdemeanor count of embezzlement and theft of human skeletal prehistoric remains from the Effigy Mounds collection in Allamakee County.

During the plea hearing, Munson, who retired as a superintendent in May 1994, admitted to taking the remains on July 16, 1990, and keeping them in his garage until May 17, 2012.

The plea agreement shows Munson kept the remains in his garage and that several of the human bones were 'broken or fragmented beyond recognition.” Munson denied knowing anything about the disappearance of the remains until the investigation restarted in 2011. At that time, he returned a box of prehistoric remains. Then, during a search of his home in 2012 authorities located a second box of human remains, which were marked with Effigy catalogue numbers.

The remains belonged to the government and the tribes associated with Effigy Mounds, which includes Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, Upper Sioux Community of Minnesota, Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa and eight others, according to the plea agreement.

The monument was established to protect more than 200 known prehistoric earthen burial mounds, some in the shape of animals, constructed between 700 and 2,500 years ago.

Sandra Massey of the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma, said in an emotional statement she doubts Munson is sorry. In his written apology, which was required as part of the plea agreement, Munson said he 'misappropriated” but Massey contends 'he stole human remains and he was caught.”

'He kept the remains in trash bags and boxes,” Massey said in a tone that became louder as she became upset. 'Those are my people. He's saying they are trash. We are living people. What gave him the right to treat us like trash?”

The big question remaining in this investigation is why Munson stole the remains? That question remained unanswered Friday by Munson, who didn't apologize in court before the judge sentenced him. Munson did say things were 'confusing” when the project started.

He was referring to the federal law that changed in 1990 with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which required agencies or museums to consult with tribes as to whether the remains or burial objects would be returned to them or stay at a museum. Munson's reply was not as coherent when Scoles asked him, 'How does that justify stealing?”

Munson said things were in 'limbo ... nobody could pick up the pieces. This wasn't intentional.”

Leon Spies, Munson's attorney, interrupted and told the judge Munson has some cognitive difficulties causing confusion and concentration lapses. Spies asked the court to consider his condition, which includes congestive heart failure, vascular problems and liver disease.

Spies and Assistant U.S. Attorney Forde Fairchild asked the judge to accept the plea agreement, which also required Munson to produce an audio and visual recording of himself reading the apology to members of the tribes and parks service. The written apology was given to the media after the hearing but the video wasn't made public.

In Munson's written apology, he attempts to explain his motives, saying he hid the remains 'in an effort to avoid the obligations imposed by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.”

During a news conference following the hearing, Fairchild said the crime went unsolved for so many years because Munson covered it up. He falsified documents, saying the remains were sent to testing facilities and no longer park service property.

Jim Nepstad, superintendent of Effigy Mounds, said the remains are now in a secure area at the mounds and they are working to return the them to the appropriate tribes. He expects this process to go faster than normal and hopes they are all returned by spring.