The „she“ here is Joann Davis, whose late husband worked on the Apollo program. He was given two Apollo souvenirs by Neil Armstrong — paperweights containing pieces of a moon rock and a heat shield, respectively. Davis was looking to sell the items to a collector to defray her son‘s medical expenses. She asked NASA for assistance, which turned out to be a mistake. NASA sent the feds after her.

Davis may have told the government what she was up to, but the government didn‘t return the favor. Instead, it decided to engage in sting operation, because that‘s obviously the best way to deal with a 74-year-old woman trying to pay medical expenses — and who had made the government fully aware of her NASA-related items and her planned sale of them.

„Jeff,“ the government‘s undercover man posing as an interested buyer, met with Davis at a Denny‘s. Outside were six armed federal agents. The only person with Davis was her 70-year-old friend, Paul Cilley. From the opinion [PDF]: