John Carta appeared in federal court this afternoon in the case and was charged with violating the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail, according to an affidavit filed with the charge.

The artifacts have been in the possession of the Bishop Museum but they were repatriated to Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, an organization dedicated to overseeing the perpetual care of Native Hawaiian remains and burial items.

The court document stated Carta and another, unnamed, individual entered Kanupa Cave, found and removed the items that Carta knew had previously belonged to the Bishop Museum collection known as the J.S. Emerson Collection.

Carta transported artifacts he knew had recently been reburied in a cave "knowing they would be sold for a profit," court documents said.

Carta is accused of committing the offense prior to June 16, 2004.

Hui Malama took possession of the items under NAGPRA and returned them to Kanupa in November 2003.

The criminal charge is believed to be the first federal prosecution of its kind here related to the theft and sale of Hawaiian artifacts.

Federal authorities launched the investigation after a collector reported to the Bishop Museum in June 2004 that the items were for sale in a Kona shop. The collector said the objects included three wooden bowls and a gourd recognizable as coming from the J.S. Emerson Collection.

The collection items, about 40 in all, were first taken from Kanupa Cave almost a century ago.

Some items went to Bishop Museum and others to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. Under federal law, the items were returned to four groups.

This case does not involve another set of some 83 objects Hui Malama says it buried in another Big Island cave in Kawaihae. That issue is the subject of an ongoing federal civil court case. U.S. District Judge David Ezra ordered the group to disclose the exact location of artifacts so that they can be returned to Bishop Museum.