SEQUIM — A rare meteorite is like the Mona Lisa, said Michael Pimentel. You can’t try to sell it without someone finding out.
The 50-year-old rock and fossil collector who owns Eclipse Minerals near Sequim believes that’s a lesson that the man he has long accused of stealing a 4.5-pound space rock from his home about four miles north of Sequim last January has learned the hard way.
That man, 35-year-old resident Raymond R. Lima, has been ordered to appear in Clallam County Superior Court on Dec. 11 for an arraignment.
He is accused of stealing the pallasite meteorite worth $80,000 and selling pieces of it through auctioneers who specialize in rare rocks.
His charge, first-degree theft, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Lima lives in the Sequim area, according to court documents, but Pimentel said his last known residence was near Phoenix, Ariz.
Pimentel said pallasites are rare even for meteorites and are known for having an abundance of translucent olivine crystals.
“There are only so many people on the face of the Earth that even obtain this material,” he said.
Difficult to track
That’s why, he said, after notifying meteorite dealers that it was stolen, it wasn’t difficult for him to track it down.
In June, Pimentel said he was notified by such a dealer in Arizona that had purchased pieces of a pallasite meteorite, weighing about 2.25 pounds, from Lima.
The pieces, he said, when put together, matched his photographs of the meteorite, and the dealer returned them to him.
The other half remains missing.
Pimentel said he remains hopeful that it will turn up.
“Well, he’s going to have to cough it up,” he said.
“He’s going to have to say who he sold it to or whatever.”
Pimentel said he was hired by a man in Michigan to cut the meteorite, which is actually half of a larger space rock, into pieces and sell it.
At the time it went missing, Pimentel said he was devastated.
Lima was the only other person that he said knew where the meteorite was located.
“I don’t trust anyone anymore,” he said.
Pimentel said Lima was a fishing buddy at the time the meteorite went missing.
The meteorite originally was found in Chile in the 19th century.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladaily news.com.
