Every once in a while we’d have a federal case come through our doors that piqued everyone’s interest. Â Like the fraud case we had with F.Lee Bailey where former governor Claude Kirk was a witness. Â Not to mention the one with N’Sync and Lou Pearlman.
But a few years back, we had a case where these brilliant NASA interns decided to steal moon rocks from the NASA laboratory in Houston and try to sell them to the highest bidder. Â Well, not only did they not succeed in that not-so-brilliant endeavor, they also ended up throwing away their bright futures in the process.
Thad Roberts was working as an intern at NASA’s Houston office. Â He was the mastermind behind it all. Â Once they stole them, they transported them across state lines into Florida to meet up with a supposed buyer. Â I remember a co-defendant was a young woman, supposedly Thad Roberts’ love interest, Â on the path to becoming an astronaut. Â I still remember her and her parents at the sentencing hearing, dejected and forlorn.
Growing up on the Space Coast, I’ve had the opportunity a few times to meet astronauts at the Space Center. Â Well, we had H. Schmidt testify at one of the sentencing hearings about how they recovered these rocks from the moon. Â The one and only time I’ve ever asked a witness for their autograph!
I specifically remember talking to my co-workers at the time saying, “you could write a book about this!”. Â And I was right! Â I should go out and buy some lottery tickets.
So if you have a chance to read  all about it:  “Sex on the Moon:  The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History”.  Written by Ben Mezrich, the same person who wrote “The Accidental Billionaires”.
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