Man sentenced for theft of Lewis and Clark-era artifacts

An Idaho man has been sentenced to nine months in prison for the 2024 theft of artifacts from the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, a small museum in Great Falls, Montana, operated by the U.S. Forest Service.

Roger Edward Hawkes, 71, initially pleaded not guilty but asked a federal judge earlier this month to change his plea after reaching an agreement with prosecutors, according to court documents reviewed by Urgent Matter.

He pleaded guilty to one count of removing archeological resources under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Johnston on February 3.

Hawkes entered the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and stole two historic weapons from a table-top display entitled “Weapons of the Expedition Interpretation” on September 14, 2024.

“The first is an authentic, antique, English, single-shot, black-powder Mortimer pistol, and the second is a knife in a leather, beaded sheath,” the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release. “Both items were made in the late 1700s or early 1800s.”

Surveillance footage taken from the museum appeared to show Hawkes concealing the stolen weapons up his sleeves as he left the building.

The museum is dedicated to educating the public about the Corps of Discovery, a special purpose unit of the U.S. Army that was tasked by then-President Thomas Jefferson to accompany Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition into the newly purchased Louisiana Territory.

After the theft, the U.S. Forest Service shared information on Facebook and was tipped off that Hawkes was selling knives at the Little Red Truck Cottage Market, a local vendor fair that operates in Montana and Wyoming.

A witness told federal authorities that Hawkes was in town selling western items, including knives and antique pistols, on the weekend of the heist—and local law enforcement confirmed he was at the museum at the time of the theft.

Hawkes sold the stolen pistol to antiques dealer Cisco’s Gallery in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and it was recovered by law enforcement.

Federal prosecutors said Hawkes was interviewed in a separate, unrelated FBI investigation, in which he was asked about the museum theft. The Justice Department did not disclose the nature of that case.

In that interview, Hawkes was said to have initially denied involvement in the heist but later said the knife was in his storage unit, where it was recovered by the FBI. Hawkes told the FBI that he thought the knife was a replica.

But months later, in May 2025, Hawkes was interviewed by federal authorities for a second time, again denying that he stole the artifacts.

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