PINE GROVE, Pa. -- The hunt for a famed author’s buried treasure led a man from Schuylkill County to go all the way to New Mexico. However, instead of finding gold, the man from Pine Grove found himself in handcuffs.
Santa Fe Police said Robert Miller broke into the home of author Forrest Fenn with a hatchet looking for the treasure.
People back in Schuylkill County were stunned when they heard about the arrest.
Body camera video of the arrest last Friday shows Miller opened up to officers.
“I thought the poem directed me into here,” Miller said.
The officer questioned, “Poem?”
“Yeah, the treasure map. The treasure hunt,” Miller said.
People who know Miller from Pine Grove said this is totally out of his character.
“He was a nice kid as far as I knew! He was quiet. Didn't know him to get in much trouble,” high school friend Angela Warner said.
Police said Miller went on the treasure hunt because he needed more money. He told police he only had $130 left in his bank account.
“I'm totally shocked, totally shocked, surprises me. Never would've thought that ever,” Warner said.
“People around here are pretty mellow, and they're not that kind of people. It's sort of a real laid back kind of a town,” Robert Moyer of Pine Grove said.
Even though the clues from the poem didn’t lead Miller to the treasure, he told police the poem did lead him to find something else.
“So you came on the property because of a poem? Are you serious?” The arresting officer asked.
“Yeah,” Miller said.
The officer asked, “You weren’t here to break anything?”
“I was taking that box of clothes right there like the poem said,” Miller said.
Miller is behind bars in New Mexico.
However, his family in Pennsylvania have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to get him back home.
As of Wednesday night, there were no donations.