Arrest Made in Theft at University of New Mexico Meteorite Museum

A man suspected of stealing a meteorite from a museum at the University of New Mexico has been booked on one count of receiving stolen property.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that 42-year-old Derek Douglas was arrested in the mid-December theft of a $40,000 meteorite that was donated to the university’s Meteorite Museum decades ago.

Douglas is accused of selling the meteorite to a collector in Missouri for $1,700.

That collector returned it after the museum contacted an association of meteorite collectors and asked its members to help.

Police came across Douglas on Wednesday when he was accused of trying to steal a jacket from an employee at an eatery at the university.

Douglas also was booked on one count of commercial burglary in the restaurant incident.