Treasure Hunter Notches 5th Year in Prison for Refusing to Forfeit His Loot

<i>He has several times petitioned for his release, including a motion in 2017 to terminate his contempt sanctions, claiming that his imprisonment violates a federal law that limits to 18 months the amount of time an uncooperative witness can be held.<p>In his rejection of the motion, Judge Algenon L. Marbley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio wrote that the law did not apply to Mr. Thompson, because his case concerned “objects of economic value.”<p>“The utility of Mr. Thompson’s assets as evidence is almost beside the point; it is the economic value of the treasure that the Court seeks,” Judge Marbley wrote. “Mr. Thompson was therefore not merely ordered to testify or provide information.”<p>Mr. Golden said the case had become “a personality thing between individuals.”</i>

5 Years in prison because you&#x27;re stubborn? Wow!

From the 2014 article: “As a child in his small hometown of Defiance, Ohio, Thompson displayed an intelligence that was as remarkable as his sometimes maddening refusal to do anything the normal way.”