A NASA intern served over 10 years in prison after stealing Moon rocks for a NSFW act.
Out of the many, many things people do for love, stealing rocks from the Moon has definitely got to be up there.
Thad Roberts, a 25-year-old intern at NASA's Johnson Space Center, promised to give his girlfriend the Moon, literally. In 2002, Roberts, his girlfriend Tiffany Fowler (also a NASA intern), and another accomplice, Shae Saur, plotted a heist to steal 17 pounds of moon rocks worth a staggering $21 million.
Using their NASA IDs, the trio snuck into Johnson Space Center after hours and made off with a 600-pound safe packed with lunar samples collected from every Apollo mission.
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But, hold your horses, cause it's about to get more bizarre.
After pulling off the heist, Roberts and Fowler spread the Moon rocks across a bed and, well, had sex on them. Because apparently, nothing says romance like doing the deed on $21 million worth of stolen lunar dust. The stunt triggered an international manhunt after the group listed the stolen rocks online.
A fourth accomplice, Gordon McWhorter, listed the rocks for $2,000 to $8,000 per gram under the pseudonym 'Orb Robinson' on the website of the Mineralogy Club of Antwerp, in Belgium. However, a Belgian rock collector spotted the suspicious listing and tipped off the FBI. Undercover agents posed as potential buyers, arranging a meetup at a restaurant in Orlando, Florida, on 20 July 2002.
Despite the agent's suspicions, Roberts and his accomplices fell for the trap. Thinking they were agreeing to a deal, Roberts, Fowler and McWhorter were arrested in a hotel room where they kept the stolen moon rocks. Saur was later arrested in Houston, Texas, on the same day.
All pled guilty of conspiracy to commit theft and interstate transportation of stolen property.
In October 2003, Roberts received over eight years in prison for his lead role in the heist as well as stealing dinosaur bones from a Utah museum. Fowler and Saur were sentenced to 180 days of house arrest and 150 hours of community service, while McWhorter received a six-year sentence.
Although the moon rocks were recovered, they were deemed scientifically useless due to contamination. The interns had also destroyed three decades’ worth of NASA research notes that were locked in the safe.
Roberts was released early in 2008 and today, he’s a theoretical physicist and author who says he’s learned from his mistakes.
"I, like many others, am filled with awe when I reflect upon how those rocks demonstrate humanity's limitless potential," Roberts said in a 2011 interview with NBC News. "But that awe does not live within those rocks. It belongs to all of us. From experience, I can say that there are more appropriate, and more productive, ways to come face-to-face with our magnificent insignificance than stealing a piece of the moon."
He added: "Whatever you do, don't repeat my mistakes."