A father-son duo of Pennsylvania treasure hunters have sued the FBI for failing to produce records chronicling a top-secret excavation the...
A father-son duo of Pennsylvania treasure hunters have sued the FBI for failing to produce records chronicling a top-secret excavation the agency administered in the state nearly four years ago that may have yielded a $400million cache of Civil War-era gold.
Court documents unsealed earlier this year revealed that the bureau had in fact engaged in the previously undisclosed dig in Elk County in search of the fabled treasure, lost by the US government in 1863.
The filing attested that agents engaged in the dig came up empty-handed.
Fortune seekers Dennis and Kem Parada, however - who together comprise the lost treasure locate and recovery service Finders Keepers - are not buying the agency's claims, after leading agents to the excavation site in 2018.
They are now suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) in hopes of obtaining the bureau's official records detailing the hush-hush dig.
Fortune seekers Dennis (right) and Kem Parada (left) have filed suit against the Justice Department over its failure to produce documents related to the FBI's search for Civil War-era gold at the remote woodland site. The pair say they led agents to the site in March 2018
An FBI tent is seen behind police tape at the base of a hill where investigators conducted an excavation for Civil War-era gold in March 2018. The FBI says the dig came up empty
The father-son duo had spent years combing the Pennsylvania wilderness with to prospect for the long-rumored riches and had felt certain they'd found the haul when contacted by the bureau in March of that year.
The pair subsequently led agents to the mountainous, heavily wooded area they had honed in on in their sprawling search, and into an underground cave in Dent's Run, about 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
The bureau took over from there, barring the duo from taking part in the subsequent search.
Now, however, the two have since filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over its failure to produce documents chronicling the FBI's search.
The father-son fortune seekers together run lost treasure locate and recovery service Finders Keepers. Pictured here is the homepage for the firm's website
The FBI said it found nothing during a March dig (above) for gold in Dents Run, Pennsylvania
According to the pair's shared attorney, who represents Finders Keepers, the agency has dragged its feet on the treasure hunters' Freedom of Information Act request for records for proof of the bureau's findings, or lack thereof.
'There's been a pattern of behavior by the FBI that's been very troubling,' public interest lawyer Anne Weismann told The Associated Press Wednesday of the case. She went on to question whether the agency is 'acting in good faith.'
The suit asks that a federal judge to order the agency to immediately turn over records detailing the search.
A message was sent to the Justice Department seeking comment on the suit.
The Pradas had previously spent years looking for what, according to legend, was an 1863 shipment of Union gold that was lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The duo focused on a spot where they say their instruments detected a large metallic mass.
After meeting with the treasure hunters in early 2018, the FBI brought in a contractor with more sophisticated instruments.
The contractor detected an underground mass that weighed up to nine tons and had the density of gold, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed last year at the request of news organizations, including The Associated Press.
The Paradas accompanied the FBI to the site in Dent's Run, but say they were confined to their car while the FBI excavated the morning of March 16.
The digging proceeded for roughly seven hours, before an agent called an abrupt halt at 3pm, saying the team was cold, tired and hungry and it would be getting dark soon. They were just 3 feet from the target.
'I said, 'You've got three hours of daylight and we're only 3 feet away,' Dennis Parada recalled. He said the agent replied, 'Denny, we're going, we're going.'
The treasure-hunting group has long insisted it found the gold buried in a state forest at Dents Run, but said the state would not allow it to dig
Whether the FBI actually left the woods that afternoon is itself an open question.
Cheryl Elder, who lives near the excavation site, told AP at the time that she had heard what sounded like a backhoe and jackhammer at least until 2am - the noisy machinery keeping her awake and annoying her because she had to rise early for work - and she saw that the hillside was brightly lit.
'It was just real loud all night,' the former constable recalled. 'It was driving me nuts.'
The second day of the excavation was similar to the first, according to the Paradas. They said they were confined to their car for several hours, then escorted up the hill to the dig site - by then a large, empty hole.
The FBI had finished the excavation out of their presence, they said.
The Paradas said they were cheated of a moment they had spent years working for.
'You can only dig the gold up once, and that's a historical moment. And here we were robbed of all that,' Dennis Parada said. 'I don't understand why they played that game on us.'
According to a 155-year-old legend, a Union Army wagon train was carrying two tons of gold on a 400-mile journey between Wheeling, West Virginia, and Gettysburg. The gold was sent by President Abraham Lincoln to pay Union soldiers (pictured, at the Battle of Gettysburg)
After the Paradas and Getler had left, Elder said, she saw a half-dozen black SUVs at the site. One by one, she said, they backed up to the bottom of the hill and rendezvoused with one of several all-terrain utility vehicles. Elder tried using her binoculars, but couldn't make out what investigators were transferring from the ATVs to the SUVs.
Even so, 'I know they found gold,' she declared. 'I know they found it, and they're being sneaky.'
Heather Selle, who lives in nearby Weedville, said she was getting her kids ready for school on the morning of the second day when she spied a convoy of FBI vehicles driving past — including two large armored trucks.
'There was too many people involved, there was too much hush-hush, and there's been too much seen,' said still another resident, Garrett Osche, whose garage was used as a staging ground for the FBI's initial foray to the Dents Run area weeks before the dig.
'Why do you close the road down if you're not loading something out? If you're not sneaking something, why do you need to do what they did?'
The shipment had either 26 gold bars or 52 bars, each weighing 50 pounds, meaning it would be worth about $27million or about $55million today (Pictured, Lincoln, center right, surrounded by crowd, preparing to deliver the Gettysburg address at dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery)
According to legend, the gold was either lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1863.
The gold was sent by President Abraham Lincoln to pay Union soldiers and was last spotted in St Marys, Pennsylvania, traveling northeast toward the capital.
When the wagon train didn't arrive at the Mint, searchers were sent out and discovered only empty wagons and the bodies of dead soldiers.
Various accounts said the lieutenant charged with leading the wagon got sick and feverish and divulged the secret of their cargo to lower ranking soldiers. Rogues within the squadron then killed the rest and made off with the treasure.
Legend says the gold was buried at Dents Run.
The FBI has insisted the March 2018 dig at the unincorporated community - which has long drawn treasure hunters - came up empty, but the agency has consistently stymied the Paradas' efforts to obtain information.
The FBI initially claimed it had no files about the investigation.
Then, after the Justice Department ordered a more thorough review, the agency changed its tune, asserting that its records were exempt from public disclosure.
Finally, in the wake of the treasure hunters' appeal, the FBI said it had located 2,400 pages of records and 17 video files that it could potentially turn over - but that it would take years to do so.
Finders Keepers asked the Justice Department for expedited processing, which can be granted in cases where there is widespread media interest involving questions about the government's integrity.
The Justice Department denied the request - and, as of last month, had yet to assign the FOIA request to a staffer for processing, according to the lawsuit.
'From the outset, it seems as if the FBI is doing everything it can to avoid answering the question of whether they actually found gold,' Weismann said.
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