The Dents Run gold case is still alive. In March 2025, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered the FBI to hand over its “Operation Union Gold” operational plan for private judicial review, redo portions of its records search, and confirm whether earlier versions of the plan exist. The ruling in Finders Keepers USA, LLC v. U.S. Department of Justice keeps a seven-year fight over what the FBI did or didn’t dig up in Elk County, Pennsylvania active into 2026, and it has already forced the release of a document the agency spent years withholding.
What Judge Mehta Ordered in March 2025
On March 14, 2025, Judge Mehta issued a mixed summary judgment ruling that granted parts of both sides’ motions and imposed new obligations on the FBI.1U.S. Department of Justice. Finders Keepers USA LLC v. DOJ
The court found two problems with how the FBI searched for records. First, the agency used May 14, 2018 — the date of its initial, unsuccessful search — as the cutoff for a second search prompted by an inquiry from U.S. Senator Pat Toomey. Judge Mehta ruled that cutoff was unreasonable and that the FBI should have searched for records created up to the date of the second search, which took place sometime before October 15, 2018. Second, limiting the search to the FBI’s Central Records System was inadequate because the agency never explained whether Philadelphia Field Office agents had saved “transitory” materials such as emails or expenditure records that live outside that system. The FBI had leaned on a 2022 policy guide to justify its narrow scope, but the guide postdated the 2018 excavation.
On the operational plan itself, the judge rejected the FBI’s use of FOIA Exemption 7(E), which protects law enforcement techniques and procedures. He called the agency’s justification “generic” and said it lacked a “logical connection” to any foreseeable harm, noting the FBI had never explained how revealing techniques from a one-time gold-digging operation could help anyone circumvent the law.2Justia. Finders Keepers USA LLC v. U.S. Department of Justice Rather than order outright disclosure, Mehta directed an in camera review, meaning he will personally examine the operational plan and any prior versions in chambers before deciding what must be released. He also found a “genuine dispute of fact” over whether earlier versions of the plan exist and ordered the FBI to confirm.
The FBI did win on two points: the search terms it used were reasonable, and its search for video footage was adequate after the agency clarified how original files from the dig were located, processed, and delivered to the plaintiff on three DVDs. The parties were directed to file a joint status report by April 14, 2025. As of mid-2026, the docket shows the case remains active with ongoing filings.3CourtListener. Finders Keepers USA LLC v. U.S. Department of Justice
What the Operational Plan Revealed
The Justice Department released the operational plan in December 2025. The version produced was dated March 13, 2019, a full year after the excavation, which raised the immediate question of what earlier versions guided the actual dig.
One passage stood out. A section titled “Coordinating Instructions” specified that when “valuables are first discovered at the site,” a designated FBI agent was to contact the Philadelphia Mint’s chief of police “and request armored transport vehicle.” The plan added that this agent “previously requested that a vehicle be ready to depart Phila. within 30 minutes of receiving said notification.”4Popular Mechanics. Dents Run FBI Civil War Gold For the treasure hunters, detailed gold-transport protocols sat uneasily beside the FBI’s insistence that nothing was found.
The Video and Records Fight
The FOIA lawsuit was filed on January 4, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Finders Keepers USA LLC, the Paradas’ company, represented by former Justice Department attorney Anne Weismann.5KUOW. Treasure Hunters Allege the FBI Made Off With Civil War Era Gold It followed a shifting FBI account: the agency first said it had no records, then said the records were exempt, then identified roughly 2,400 pages of documents and 1,000 photographs tied to the dig.6CBS News. Civil War Gold Dents Run Pennsylvania FBI Video Court Filing
Video has been the most contested piece. The FBI initially reported 17 relevant video files, then reduced the count to four without explanation. When those four were produced under court order, they turned out to be materials Dennis Parada himself had given the FBI before the dig, not footage of the excavation.7CBS News. Civil War Gold Dents Run Pennsylvania FBI Video Cover-Up Alleged The agency maintains it has no recordings of the actual dig.
Finders Keepers pushed back with a March 13, 2018, trail-camera photograph that appears to show an FBI agent operating a video camera at the site. Weismann argued in court filings that the FBI either “falsely claimed to have no other responsive videotapes or the FBI illegally destroyed responsive videotapes.”5KUOW. Treasure Hunters Allege the FBI Made Off With Civil War Era Gold She sought to depose Special Agent Jacob Archer, the unidentified videographer in the trail-camera photo, and Michael Seidel, the FBI section chief for records dissemination, along with sanctions and partial legal fees. The Justice Department opposed all of it, and while Judge Mehta accepted the FBI’s video search as adequate in his March 2025 ruling, the broader records fight continues on the operational plan and the redone Philadelphia Field Office search.
Why the Paradas Still Don’t Believe the FBI
The FBI officially closed its investigation on July 24, 2019, and spokesperson Carrie Adamowski said the agency “unequivocally rejects” any claim that gold was unearthed.8WHYY. FBI Hunt Civil War Gold Pennsylvania Witnesses Dennis and Kem Parada point to several things that they say cut the other way:
- Two local residents, hunting guide Eric McCarthy and retired manufacturing worker Don Reichel, reported hearing heavy machinery as early as 5 a.m. on March 14, 2018, before the warrant’s 6 a.m. start time, and described seeing a convoy leave the site, including what they said was a heavily loaded armored truck with mud flaps dragging on the ground. The FBI denies using armored trucks and says “appropriate vehicles and equipment” were used.9NBC Philadelphia. Witnesses Accuse FBI of Digging Up Civil War Gold in the Middle of the Night
- The Paradas and journalist Warren Getler identified what they call discrepancies in FBI photo logs, including images of a boulder where snow coverage does not match the stated timeline.10The Guardian. Treasure Hunter Civil War Gold FBI Accused Cover-Up
- The FBI produced no video or photographs from the second day of the dig and did not document a 30-foot-long, 12-foot-deep trench that appears on the agency’s own hand-drawn map. The treasure hunters argue that trench could only have been dug overnight.
- When the Paradas returned to the site with their own equipment after the dig, they could no longer detect the metallic mass that had consistently registered for years.11WJAC TV. Clearfield County Father-Son Treasure Hunters Win FOIA Lawsuit Against FBI
The FBI has never publicly reconciled the pre-dig microgravity survey by Enviroscan Inc., which identified an underground mass of up to nine tons with a density consistent with gold, with its position that the site was empty.12CBS News. FBI Records on Search for Fabled Gold Raise More Questions
What the Paradas Are Doing Outside Court
The treasure hunters have not stopped searching. They say their equipment now picks up new readings in locations adjacent to the original site, and as of November 2025 they had identified a new spot in Elk County where they believe Civil War-era gold is buried. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which owns the land, has denied them permission to dig.13Outdoor News. Update on Story About Gold Supposedly Buried in Elk County, PA
Dennis Parada has also said he plans to seek records from the Philadelphia Mint, including photographs and video that might show whether any recovered material was processed there. His stated goal is to learn whether anything was “foreign gold or was it U.S. gold, union gold.”11WJAC TV. Clearfield County Father-Son Treasure Hunters Win FOIA Lawsuit Against FBI He has reported spending more than $20,000 on legal costs.
Background on the 2018 Dig
For readers coming to the story late: the FBI excavated a wooded hillside at Dents Run, in Elk County, Pennsylvania, on March 13 and 14, 2018, under a federal search and seizure warrant signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Lloret on March 9. Agent Jacob Archer’s affidavit stated he had “probable cause to believe that a significant cache of gold is secreted in the underground cave” at the site and characterized any gold there as U.S. government property stolen during the Civil War while in transit to the Philadelphia Mint.14WRBL. Affidavit: FBI Feared Pennsylvania Would Seize Fabled Gold The affidavit also acknowledged that the FBI pursued a federal warrant rather than seek DCNR’s permission because agents feared the state would classify any gold as “abandoned property” and claim it for Pennsylvania.15Washington Examiner. FBI Searched Cave for Civil War Gold Over Fears Pennsylvania Officials Would Claim It
The warrant authorized operations from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and estimated one or more tons of gold at the location, roughly 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Roughly 50 agents secured the site. The affidavit stayed sealed until June 24, 2021, when it was unsealed following an unopposed petition by the Associated Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Dennis and Kem Parada, along with Warren Getler, were present at the start of the dig but were confined to their vehicles and sent home before the critical portion of the excavation. When they returned, they saw an empty hole.
Whether the FBI removed hundreds of millions of dollars in gold under cover of darkness or simply dug an expensive hole in the Pennsylvania woods is the question Judge Mehta’s in camera review of Operation Union Gold may finally begin to answer.