FBI agents reportedly dug for Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania in 2018, according to government emails obtained by treasure hunters who helped the federal agents in their search.
The Associated Press reports that the father-son treasure hunting duo Dennis and Kem Parada of the service Finders Keepers successfully sued for emails that appear to suggest that the FBI was hunting for gold when it excavated a woodland site in Dent’s Run, Pa.
A lawyer for the father-son duo, Bill Cluck, provided the emails to the news outlet.
Because the site where the FBI excavated was on state-owned land, they required a federal court order to access the land. The emails that were exchanged in obtaining this order reveal previously undisclosed conversations that reference “gold.”
Audrey Miner, chief lawyer for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and K.T. Newton, assistant U.S attorney in Philadelphia, exchanged several emails discussing the handling and ownership of any gold that was discovered, the AP reported.
On March 13, 2018, Miner reportedly asked Newton, “Can you please provide the basis upon which the Office of the United States Attorney asserts that the gold, if found, belongs to the federal government?”
Two days after the dig was over, Newton emailed Miner, “For your knowledge only … we have no other scientific evidence, other than what the excavation had been based on, that any gold is hidden in that area.”
“I guess you can’t come right out and state there is no gold to be found at Dent’s Run?” Miner replied.
The AP noted that the FBI has long maintained that whatever it was looking for in Dent’s Run, it didn’t find it.
An FBI spokesperson told the outlet, “The FBI unequivocally rejects any claims or speculation to the contrary.”
Still, the Paradas said they believe the FBI was successful and was able to recover a substantial amount of gold.
“I gotta find out what happened to all that gold,” Dennis Parada said to the AP last week.
Local residents reported hearing equipment operating at night when the dig was meant to be paused and others reported seeing a convoy of armored FBI vehicles.
The Paradas’ attorney had recently petitioned to obtain a copy of the federal writ of entry and seizure warrant that gave FBI agents permission to excavate the land, but the petition was rejected.
However, the AP notes that although Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson rejected the petition, he did reveal the name of the federal case: “In the Matter of: Seizure of One or More Tons of United States Gold.”