Father-and-son treasure hunting team won a lawsuit against the FBI tied to a long-running search for what is believed to be Civil War-era gold

A Clearfield County father-and-son treasure hunting team has won an important court battle in its years-long fight with the FBI over what they believe was a buried cache of Civil War-era gold in Elk County.

In his report for WJAC-TV, Brock Owens explained that the team known as Finders Keepers – Dennis Parada and his son, Kem Parada – prevailed in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit tied to the federal government’s search at Dents Run. The ruling does not settle the larger mystery, but it does give the treasure hunters more ground in their effort to find out what really happened at the site.

That matters because this case has never been just about an old legend or a wild hunch. It has turned into a very public dispute over whether federal agents dug up something valuable, and whether the public has been told the full truth about it.

Owens made clear that the back-and-forth has now stretched for years, with the Paradas and their attorneys still pushing for documents, pictures, video, and any other material they believe could show what the FBI actually found – or did not find – during the dig.

How Finders Keepers Got There First

According to Owens, Dennis and Kem Parada spent years researching reports that Union gold had been buried during the Civil War and eventually narrowed their search to a cave in Dents Run, in Elk County.

The father and son say they received gold readings at the location and came to believe there could be seven to nine tons of gold and silver below the surface. They also maintain that only a portion of that haul – roughly 52 bars of gold, by their estimate – would have belonged to the federal government.

That detail is important because, as Owens explained, the federal connection is what brought the FBI into the picture in the first place. If part of the gold was indeed federal property, then federal authorities had the power to dig for it.

Kem Parada told WJAC that he and his father had little choice once they became convinced the site held Union gold. As he put it, “It was 52 bars of union gold, that’s federal property. We couldn’t get to the site, we couldn’t get underground. The only thing we could do is get the FBI involved and prove to them that what they owned was at the location.”

That is one of the stranger twists in the case. The men who believe they found the gold are also the ones who say they had to call in the very agency they later ended up fighting in court.

The FBI Search And The Questions That Followed

Owens noted that in a search warrant filed in March 2018, the FBI said it was looking for between one and two tons of gold at Dents Run. The warrant also said the search was supposed to take place between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. each day.

The FBI has publicly denied finding anything during that dig, a position it has maintained for years. But the Paradas and their legal team have never accepted that answer.

Attorney Bill Cluck, who represents Finders Keepers, told Owens that people living near the site reported activity that went beyond what the warrant described. According to Cluck, local residents said the FBI remained there overnight, working under lights and making enough noise with heavy equipment and armored trucks to draw attention.

That claim is central to the treasure hunters’ argument. They believe that if the search continued outside the stated hours, something significant may have happened after dark.

Owens included comments from Dents Run resident Matthew Reuel-Elder, who described what he remembered from that time. Reuel-Elder said, “I left and went on the road for two days, but they were here, I’m thinking two days after I left, they were still here before they left. And they left early in the morning basically.”

That does not prove gold was recovered, of course. But it does help explain why the Paradas never let the case go. In a story like this, the mystery feeds on every missing hour, every late-night truck, and every document that looks incomplete.

What The FOIA Win Actually Means

The father and son did not win a ruling declaring that the FBI took gold from the site. That is not what this stage of the case was about.

Instead, as Owens reported, the FOIA victory gave Finders Keepers access to documents they say reveal more about the FBI’s planning before the dig. Their attorneys argue that those records matter because they may show how seriously the federal government took the gold readings before the excavation began.

Just as important, the Paradas’ legal team says that in all the documents they now have, the FBI still has not specifically said whether it did or did not find any gold.

That is a narrow point, but it is one the treasure hunters clearly view as a major opening. If the FBI had found nothing, they believe the paper trail should make that plain. If the records remain less direct than that, then from their perspective the unanswered questions remain alive.

This is where the case becomes less about treasure hunting and more about government transparency. Even people who are skeptical of the gold story can understand why a FOIA fight like this matters. When the government searches public land, especially in a case this unusual, people expect a cleaner public record than what seems to exist here.

The Gold Readings Are Gone, But The Fight Is Not

Another point Owens highlighted adds yet another layer to the dispute: the Paradas say they no longer get the same gold readings they received for years at the exact spot where the FBI dug.

That does not by itself prove anything either, but it is obviously one reason the family remains convinced something changed at the site after the federal excavation.

The land is owned by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which means the Paradas cannot simply return and start digging wherever they want. Still, Owens reported that they are now getting new readings in nearby areas and hope state officials may eventually allow more excavation.

So while this latest court win is significant, it is not the end of the story. It may not even be the midpoint.

Dennis Parada told Owens that the legal battle is still moving forward and that their focus has shifted to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. “We won. We won the battle,” Dennis said. “And now we’re going after the Mint, Philadelphia Mint to get pictures and video of what the gold was. Was it foreign gold or was it U.S. gold, union gold.”

That quote gets to the heart of where the Paradas stand now. They are no longer just arguing that something may be buried underground. They are openly chasing records they believe could identify what was recovered.

They Say This Was Never About A Payday

One of the most interesting parts of Owens’ report is that Finders Keepers and their attorneys say they are not seeking money or a reward through the ongoing litigation.

Instead, they say they want the truth about what happened at Dents Run.

That claim will strike some people as hard to believe, because any story involving tons of buried gold naturally sounds like it is about fortune first and everything else second. But after years of court fights, public statements, and document battles, it is at least clear that the Paradas want something more than a simple settlement.

They want an answer they can point to.

Owens said he reached out to both the FBI and the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia but had not heard back. That silence, whether routine or not, will only keep the case alive in the public imagination.

And that is really why this story refuses to die. It has all the ingredients people latch onto: a Civil War legend, buried treasure, a disputed federal dig, nearby witnesses, missing certainty, and a father-and-son team that refuses to walk away.

For now, the Paradas have won an access battle, not the whole war. But in a mystery that has lasted this long, even that counts as a major development.