Emery County man charged for hiding dinosaur bones, drugs in his storage unit

GREEN RIVER, Utah (ABC4) — An Emery County man was arrested and charged after the sheriff’s office discovered he was allegedly storing drugs and dinosaur bones inside a storage unit.

Robert Ryan Wilson, 41, of Green River, is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a third-degree felony; cultural sites antiquities violation amounting to more than $500, a third-degree felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class B misdemeanor; and manufacturing alcohol without a license, also a Class B misdemeanor.

According to court documents, on Oct. 27, 2025, Emery County Dispatch was contacted by an anonymous person who reported that Wilson was storing drugs and dinosaur bones in a storage unit. The caller told dispatch the unit was in Green River, and where to find Wilson’s unit.

The Emery County Sheriff’s Office contacted the owner of the storage unit property, who granted permission for a deputy to bring a K-9 to search the area. The K-9 indicated that there was something in unit 10, the same one mentioned by the anonymous caller.

A search warrant was approved to search the storage unit. Inside, law enforcement allegedly located 15 bottles of THC syrup, amounting to about 1.5 gallons of the substance. A suspected alcohol still setup was also found with a 5-gallon jug of what seemed to be homemade alcohol. Law enforcement also located a glass bong with burnt residue.

Alongside the illegal items, “numerous amounts of suspected dinosaur bone” were discovered in the storage unit. Collecting dinosaur and vertebrate fossils from public lands is illegal in Utah. Documents didn’t clarify where he obtained the bones, but his charges indicate they were likely taken from state or federal land.

When they finished searching the storage unit, the sheriff’s office was contacted by Wilson in an unrelated manner. The sheriff’s deputy responded and handled Wilson’s call. After assisting, he asked Wilson if he had a storage unit.

Wilson allegedly responded that he did have some items stored and described the unit that had just been searched by law enforcement. When asked if everything inside belonged to him, the documents state that Wilson admitted that everything, except some of the furniture, was his.

The sheriff’s deputy arrested Wilson and booked him into the Emery County Jail. Documents say he has a history of drug-related offenses and theft.