A NASA intern shocked the world after stealing Moon rocks worth $21 million and using them for a bizarre NSFW act.
In one of NASA’s strangest crimes, intern Thad Roberts executed a bold heist so outrageous it seemed like fiction.
In 2002, 25-year-old Roberts planned to impress his girlfriend by stealing real Moon rocks from NASA. He told her he would give her the Moon, and meant it.
Along with his girlfriend Tiffany Fowler, also a NASA intern, and their accomplice Shae Saur, Roberts broke into a secure NASA facility and walked out with a safe full of lunar material.
Moon rocks worth $21 million stolen overnight
The safe contained 17 pounds of Moon rocks collected during every Apollo mission, with a total estimated value of $21 million.
That wasn’t all, this 600-pound vault also held over 30 years of scientific research, irreplaceable in its historical and scientific value.
The group used their employee badges to bypass security and carry out the heist at night. What followed turned the incident from criminal to bizarre.
Sex on stolen Moon rocks triggers global hunt
In an act that stunned authorities, Roberts and Fowler allegedly spread the Moon rocks out on a bed and had sex on them.
This unbelievable detail emerged later during investigations and sparked global media coverage.
What was meant to be a romantic gesture ended up being an infamous footnote in criminal history.
To make things worse, the group attempted to sell the Moon rocks online.
They listed them for sale on a Belgian mineral collectors’ website under fake names, offering samples for $2,000 to $8,000 per gram.
FBI sting operation brings heist to a crashing halt
A Belgian rock enthusiast grew suspicious of the offer and tipped off U.S. authorities.
The FBI acted swiftly, launching a sting operation. Undercover agents posed as interested buyers and arranged a meeting with the suspects in Orlando, Florida, on July 20, 2002.
Roberts, Fowler, and Gordon McWhorter, were arrested at a hotel room where the Moon rocks were being kept. Saur was arrested separately in Houston.
All four were charged and later pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft-related offenses.
Former NASA intern jailed for over eight years after stealing $21,000,000 worth of Moon rocks for NSFW act
Roberts, as the mastermind, received a sentence of over eight years in prison. He also admitted to stealing dinosaur bones from a museum in Utah.
Fowler and Saur were sentenced to 180 days of house arrest and 150 hours of community service, while McWhorter received a six-year sentence.
Unfortunately, the Moon rocks, although recovered, deemed scientifically worthless due to contamination.
The theft destroyed critical NASA research stored in the safe, a major loss for the agency.
Roberts transformed from prisoner to physicist.
After serving time, Roberts was released in 2008 and has since tried to rebuild his life.
He now works as a theoretical physicist and author, using his story as a cautionary tale.
In a 2011 interview, he reflected on his mistakes and advised others not to repeat his error.
“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.”