Ted Roberts, 24, plotted to steal 17 pounds of moon rocks and a meteorite from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, but was caught in the process. Share this article Share this article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy link Link copied Bookmark this Comment
This intern could have had a successful career at Nasa but was ruined after stealing £15.5m worth of moon rocks to have 'sex on the moon' with his girlfriend.
In 2002, Ted Roberts decided to steal 17 pounds of moon rocks and a meteorite from the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The FBI reported that the 24-year-old stole the priceless samples from every Apollo mission, which were stored in a 600-pound safe.
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Roberts, who had a triple degree in physics, geology, and geophysics from the University of Utah, was confident that his plan was sound. With the samples in hand, Roberts tried to find a buyer.
He was reported to have contacted a potential buyer in Belgium through a friend, who offered to buy samples at prices ranging from £760 to £3,800 per gram. The buyer, suspicious of Roberts' offer, allegedly contacted the FBI, where he was instructed to liaise during the investigation.
Around the same time, Roberts began an affair with Tiffany Fowler, another NASA intern, who agreed to help her new lover with his evil plans after they moved in together after three weeks of dating. The couple managed to persuade a third intern named Shay Saur to join them, The Mirror US reports.
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Equipped with NASA credentials, the trio broke into the space center and made off with the artifacts. On July 20, 2002, the 33rd anniversary of the first moon landing, an unsuspecting Roberts and Fowler traveled to Orlando to meet the family of a prospective buyer.
In a 2012 interview with CBS, Roberts said that while waiting for his family, he opened the safe with a circular saw, hid some rocks under the blanket, and then engaged in intimate acts. “I took some moon rocks and put them under the blanket on the bed,” Roberts admitted in the interview.
“I didn't say anything, but I'm sure she felt it,” he added. “It was more symbolic of what we were doing, essentially having sex on the moon.”
“It's more uncomfortable than not, but at that point it wasn't about comfort,” Roberts explained. “It was about self-expression. And no one had ever had sex on the moon before. I think it's safe to say.”
Roberts and Fowler were forced to abandon their plan to sell the stones when they arrived at the exchange, where several FBI agents were waiting. The stones were immediately seized, but the FBI declared them “virtually worthless to the scientific community.”
The threesome's daring heist destroyed three decades of NASA research manuscripts. Roberts confessed after his arrest to stealing dinosaur bones and fossils from the Salt Lake Museum of Natural History.
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When asked about his motives for the theft, Robert told CBS News that he “didn't” consider it stealing at the time. “We weren't going to use the money we got to buy a yacht or a bunch of cars or a big house,” he explained.
“We planned to live modestly as we had before, but to fund science that could change the world,” he added. Roberts, Fowler and Saur pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft and interstate transportation of stolen property.
Roberts was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, but served only six. Fowler and Saur were given 180 days of house arrest and 150 hours of community service.
McWhorter, found guilty at trial, was sentenced to six years in prison. It was also reported that Roberts and Fowler had a falling out and never saw each other again.
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