A Utah man is facing federal charges after he was allegedly caught digging in the historic Fort Yellowstone Cemetery as part of a search for the infamous Fenn treasure.

Rodrick D. Craythorn, 56, is alleged to have disturbed the Yellowstone National Park cemetery multiple times, between October 2019 and May 24 of this year.

A grand jury indicted Craythorn on two felony counts last month. Count one alleges he excavated archeological resources while count two, the more serious charge, alleges he injured or depredated federal property.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming publicized the case in a Thursday news release, shortly after Craythorn made his first court appearance. At a brief hearing in Cheyenne, Craythorn pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on his own recognizance.

While last month’s indictment was sparse on details about the case, Thursday’s news release from federal prosecutors said Craythorn “was reported to have been searching for Forrest Fenn’s treasure in the Fort Yellowstone Cemetery when these acts allegedly occurred.”

Fenn was an art dealer and author from Sante Fe, New Mexico, who published a cryptic poem in 2010 that he said would lead the reader to a chest of gold and jewels somewhere in the Rocky Mountain. The publication of the riddle inside Fenn’s memoir triggered a decade-long search that drew in tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of treasure hunters. Some seekers ran into trouble, whether by putting themselves in perilous locations or by going places they shouldn’t. For example, one man fell off a cliff to his death in Yellowstone’s to his death in 2017 while earlier this year, a 55-year-old Indiana man illegally rappeled into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone after becoming convinced the treasure lay below. He had to be rescued by a ranger and received a week-long jail sentence.

Fenn expressed dismay at those who broke the law or took dangerous risks in their searching, but never called it off. Then in June, he announced the treasure had been found.

Thursday’s news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office listed the discovery of Fenn’s treasure as a matter of fact, though some treasure seekers have remained skeptical that the booty was actually found or even existed at all. Fenn refused to release any details about where it had been hidden or who found it, offering only that it was discovered in Wyoming. He died last month at the age of 90.

Fenn announced the treasure’s discovery through the website of Dal Neitzel, a seeker whose blog became a quasi-official hub for all things related to the hunt. In late July, following Fenn’s revelation that the prize had been found in Wyoming, Neitzel asked his readers to guess where in the state the chest had been stashed.

Hours later, a commenter identified as Rodrick Craythorn responded, “Fort Yellowstone cemetery.” Federal prosecutors indicated Thursday that Craythorn had been “found digging” at the site just months earlier.

The Fort Yellowstone Cemetery was established in the Mammoth Hot Springs area in 1888, while the U.S Army oversaw the national park.

“When the Army left Yellowstone in 1918, about 54 graves were in the cemetery, most of them civilian employees of the Army and relatives of the military and civilian personnel,” says a National Historic Landmark Nomination form for Fort Yellowstone.

Those buried in the cemetery ranged from infants to adults claimed by ailments like diphtheria, typhoid fever and cancer and others who died in accidents involving livestock and an engineering employee killed by a grizzly bear, according to records compiled by author and archivist Lee Whitlesey.

A couple additional people were buried at the cemetery in the decades after the Army left the park — the last in 1957 — while the remains of some soldiers and civilians were moved to the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Custer, Montana. A total of 37 graves lie within the cemetery, according to the historic landmark material.

The two-count indictment alleges that Craythorn caused more than $1,000 worth of damage to the site. His two charges are theoretically punishable by up to 12 years in prison and $270,000 in fines, though it’s unlikely that a conviction would result in a maximum sentence.

A trial has tentatively been scheduled for Dec. 14 in Casper. In their news release, federal prosecutors noted that, “An indictment is an allegation and Craythorn is presumed innocent until convicted.” While out on bond, Craythorn has been ordered to obey all laws and to maintain contact with his attorney.