Check this out. This is almost unbelievable. This paleontology professor
at Charleston College in South Carolina named Robert (Bobby)
Boessenecker is accused of stealing fossils from the institution's
museum. He reportedly took the fossils when he got shit-canned (his own
words). And what's equally wild is that his father is a former police
officer.

Read this (and it gets even worse--be sure to read the follow-up
article; Boessenecker surrenders to authorities and is actually booked
into jail on charges of grand larceny):

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — Police are investigating after rare fossils
were reported missing from the College of Charleston’s Mace Brown
Natural History Museum and a former employee is accused in their
disappearance.
UPDATE: Researcher accused of stealing fossils has surrendered

Dr. Scott Persons called the College of Charleston’s campus police to
report missing property from the museum on Mar. 7, according to an
incident report.

Persons told police a rare dolphin jaw and teeth fossil, a 3D printed
whale skull, an extremely rare fish jaw, and a seal skeleton were all
missing from the museum, and he believed Robert Boessenecker, a former researcher and professor at the College of Charleston, to be responsible.

Dr. Persons explained that Boessenecker had given the toothed dolphin
skull and the paperwork for it back to the person who originally donated
the skeleton to the museum.

Boessenecker reportedly bragged, saying his wife, Sarah Boessenecker,
had ‘pulled a few strings’ so that all official records of the fossil donation were gone. Sarah was previously the Mace Brown Museum’s museum collection manager.

In addition, Persons advised Boessenecker had told a witness that he
stole fossils from the museum. Police spoke to the witness that Persons identified, and she verified that while she was helping Boessenecker
move out of his office, he bragged to the witness about taking fossils
from the museum and then asked her to store some of the boxes from his
office for him because he didn’t have room for them.

She also provided an audio recording of Boessenecker boasting about how
the box the witness was holding, “was actually a proto-seal from the
Oregon coast that he took from the museum when he got ‘s***-canned’,”
the report said. Boessenecker and the College parted ways in August
2023, according to police reports, although the reason is unclear.

Regarding the missing fish jaw or Conosaurus Bowmani Jaw, Persons said
the museum was asked to provide a specimen for examination. The jaw is
“one of the only known of this species in existence,” the report states. When searching for the jaw, it could not be found, and all records of it
were gone.

Boessenecker and his wife Sarah became early employees of the Charleston
Center for Paleontology after their employment with the College of
Charleston. Investigators reported seeing a picture of Robert and Sarah Boessenecker, and the missing 3D-printed whale skull on the center’s
website. Those pictures have since been removed from the center’s website.

After reaching out to the center, Elizabeth Kane, board chair and
founder, said the center could not comment on the investigation. Still,
she did say the center is cooperating with police and the College of
Charleston to ensure all specimens are returned to where they belong.

Investigators reached out to experts in the industry, and one from the
South Carolina State Museum said that removing paperwork for the fossils
was illegal. He also said he knew the Boesseneckers and that the couple
knew how to handle fossil removal properly. The expert explained that
records are always kept for specimens in case they are needed for later examination.

Another expert with the National Park Service reiterated that the way
the fossils were removed was wrong and unethical. They, too, knew Robert
and said he knew the proper removal methods.

Campus police obtained search warrants for three locations, including
the couple’s home, the Charleston Center for Paleontology, and a storage container rented by Boessenecker in Summerville.

Law enforcement discovered numerous documents and items belonging to the
Mace Brown Museum, including multiple 3D-printed skulls, one of which
was a whale skull, a box of dolphin skulls labeled “#64” skulls, a container labeled LA County Museum that contained a fossil, a cardboard
box containing a fossil labeled “Bobby” from the National Park Service,
and several other boxes of fossils.

According to reports, all the items were placed in evidence. This case
is under investigation. No update has been given on the Boesseneckers’
after police recovered all the items. Various posts on the couple’s
social pages say they plan to move to San Diego in June 2024.
Boessenecker said he received a research fellowship at the San Diego
Natural History Museum on his blog.

End of article.

And now the follow-up article--Bad news for Boessenecker (note how the
article repeatedly misspells his last name as Boessnecker):

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A former College of Charleston researcher
accused of stealing fossils has surrendered to law enforcement.

Records from the Charleston County Detention Center show Robert
Boessenecker was booked into the jail Tuesday morning on a grand larceny charge.

The arrest stems from a report to campus police that property belonging
to the Mace Brown Natural History had gone missing earlier this month. ADVERTISING

Missing items included a rare dolphin jaw and teeth fossil, a 3D-printed
whale skull, an extremely rare fish jaw, and a seal skeleton – and it
was believed the items were taken by the former researcher.

Incident reports obtained by News 2 show that Boessenecker had admitted
to stealing fossils from the museum to a witness, and also bragged that
his wife, Sarah Boessenecker “pulled a few strings” so that official records of a fossil donation were gone. She was working as the museum’s collection manager at the time.

While speaking with police, the witness verified that while helping Boessenecker move out of his office, he mentioned taking fossils from
the museum and asked her to store some of the boxes for him because he
did not have room.
READ MORE: Former CofC researcher accused of stealing fossils worth
thousands

The witness also provided an audio recording of the researcher boasting
about how the box the witness was holding, “was actually a proto-seal
from the Oregon coast that he took from the museum when he got ‘s***-canned’,” the report said.

Boessenecker and the College parted ways in August 2023, according to
police reports, although the reason is unclear.

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