Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 4, 1 April 2007 — Cove thief dies [ARTICLE]

Cove thief dies

A man facing a one-year prison sentence for his involvement in stealing Hawaiian funerary objects from a Hawai'i Island burial cave was found dead in his KailuaKona, home in early March. John Carta, 46, had pleaded guilty for violating federal burial law when he took part in stealing Hawaiian remains and funerary objects from Kanupa Cave in Kohala and later trying to sell them on the hlaek market in 2004. He was sentenced in February and was scheduled to start his prison term in April. News reports said that poliee did not suspect any foul play in Carta's death. Edward Halealoha Ayau, the executive director of the Hawaiian burial protection group Hui Mālama i nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i nei, told The Honohihi Advertiser that there are stories warning of people who desecrate Hawaiian burials later dying. "What Mr. Carta did was very terrible, and something like this is what comes with the territory when you invade that world, whieh is what Mr. Carta did," Ayau said. Carta's aeeompliee, Daniel Taylor, has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.