PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – Pete Larson has discovered thousands of fossils around the world, co-authored three books and led the team that unearthed the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. But there’s one black mark on his record: a federal conviction that landed him in prison almost 20 years ago.
His name could soon be cleared because of a documentary released last year at the Sundance Film Festival, which has brought his legal blemish back into the public eye and spurred South Dakota residents – and Larson himself – to push for President Barack Obama to give him a pardon.
“Dinosaur 13” details the discovery of “Sue,” a Tyrannosaurus rex that was more than 90 percent complete when it was discovered in 1990 in South Dakota. Federal agents seized the fossil in 1992, alleging that Larson’s Black Hills Institute of Geological Research and its employees took it from federal trust land.
While those charges never stuck, the federal government investigated the institute and brought more than 150 unrelated charges against its employees. Only Larson and two others were found guilty, and the paleontologist was sentenced to two years in federal prison for lying on customs documents about thousands of dollars used for fossil deals in Peru and Japan and illegally taking fossils from a national forest in Montana.
Larson’s backers have argued for more than two decades that he was overzealously prosecuted. The movie’s release has reignited that conversation, leading his supporters to push for the president to correct what they see as the government’s mistake.