Springfield man fined for taking Civil War remains

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- A southwest Missouri man has to pay about $5,000 in federal restitution for collecting bones he found while canoeing through a national battlefield site.

The U.S. attorney's office for western Missouri said in a release Wednesday that 31-year-old Coy Matthew Hamilton will pay the National Park Service $5,351 and perform 60 hours of community service to avoid prosecution for removing artifacts.

Prosecutors say Hamilton was canoeing last year down Wilson's Creek, which runs through the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Site, looking for artifacts after a storm.

Hamilton saw a bone sticking out of an embankment and dug into the embankment, removing more bones. About 10 days later, he turned the bones into the park service, which determined the bones were those of an adult dating back to the Civil War.