HILO, Hawai'i — In an effort to increase the punishment for a man a U.S. attorney called a "grave robber," the state attorney general's office is pursuing a new criminal charge against the man, who pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor in the theft of Native Hawaiian funerary objects taken from a Big Island cave.

A Big Island grand jury yesterday indicted Daniel W. Taylor on a charge of first-degree theft, the taking of artifacts from Kanupa Cave in Kohala. According to state Attorney General Mark Bennett, Taylor and John Carta, 46, removed 157 artifacts from the cave, and Taylor sold or attempted to sell some of the items in June and July 2004.

If convicted of the new charge, Taylor could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and be fined $25,000. Taylor is facing a lesser penalty when he is sentenced in federal court next week in connection with the same case.

Both Taylor and Carta pleaded guilty in federal court last year to conspiring to sell, use for profit and transport for sale and profit Native American cultural items, which is a misdemeanor violation of the Native American Protection and Repatriation Act. That charge carries a maximum punishment of a year in jail and $100,000 fine.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren in February sentenced Carta to a year in jail for stealing the objects, but Carta was found dead in March in his Kailua, Kona, home before he reported to begin serving his sentence.

Taylor, 40, is free on $10,000 signature bond pending sentencing Monday in the federal case.

In a written statement announcing the indictment yesterday, Bennett said the Kanupa Cave the two men entered is a burial cave, and the state "views any looting of Hawaiian burial sites as extraordinarily serious. We will criminally prosecute thieves and looters to the full extent of the law."

First Assistant Federal Public Defender Alexander Silvert called the new charge against Taylor "outrageous," and said it should immediately be dismissed. State law specifically bars state authorities from prosecuting people who have already been prosecuted by federal authorities for the same acts, he said.

Silvert said it was Bennett who first brought the case to federal authorities to prosecute, and said Bennett watched the plea agreement in the federal case play out without raising any objections.

"This is political, and it's disgusting," Silvert said of the new charge.

"Mr. Taylor has shown the utmost remorse, understanding that he participated in something that hurt the Hawaiian culture, and he has done everything in his power" to make up for what he did, Silvert said. That included recovering some artifacts by buying them back himself, Silvert said.

Taylor also cooperated with federal authorities, and wore an electronic device to help authorities build the case against Carta, Silvert said. That conduct should be rewarded, and instead Taylor is facing a harsh new charge, Silvert said.

Deputy Attorney General Christopher Young said prosecuting Taylor in both state and federal courts for the same acts does not amount to double jeopardy because the state and federal governments "are different jurisdictions and sovereigns."

"In most cases they could be prosecuted on both sides, and the decision is going to be made whether or not we're going to prosecute on both sides," Young said. "In this case, the AG made the decision that the case warranted prosecution on both the state and federal sides."

In Taylor's written plea agreement in federal court, Taylor related how Carta learned from an unidentified person in 2000 where to find a Big Island cave containing Native Hawaiian artifacts.

Taylor and Carta agreed on June 16, 2004, to look for the cave with the understanding that they would sell any artifacts for a profit, according to the plea agreement.

They found Kanupa Cave the next day, pushed aside a rock at the cave's entrance and discovered items wrapped in woven lauhala and black cloth, according to the document.

They unwrapped items that included wooden bowls, a gourd, a holua sled runner, a spear, kapa and cordage, including artifacts that had labels indicating they belonged to the J.S. Emerson Collection, Taylor said.

The artifacts known as the Emerson Collection were taken from the cave in the late 1800s and sold to museums, including the Bishop Museum. They were reburied in the cave in 2003.

Taylor admitted he tried to sell a palaoa, or whale-tooth pendant, for $40,000 on the day of the break-in, and the pair sold a piece of kapa to a tourist for $150 later that month. The following month, they sold a fisherman's bowl to a collector for $2,083, he said.

Federal authorities said 157 items were recovered, and the only object still missing is the piece of kapa or bark cloth, also known as tapa.

At the time Taylor entered into the federal plea agreement, U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo labeled the pair "grave robbers," but said federal law only allowed for Taylor and Carta to be prosecuted for misdemeanor offenses.

Young said the artifacts are now held by the federal government, and said the courts will have to decide what happens to the artifacts after the criminal cases are resolved.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.