Some of the charges against Baker appear to have been overblown. Under the provisions of Nepal's 1973 National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, people who possess old animal skins and other animal parts must register them with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. "Many houses have these skins of pandas and tigers," says Hemanta Mishra, a conservationist who helped draft the law. "Basically, as long as people didn't deal or trade or barter, the law was not really enforced." As for the antiquities, the Nepalese government gives out licenses for the purchase and sale of some old objects. Baker's Kathmandu attorney, Janu Shrestha, says he's in the process of rounding up the proper documentation for the collection.

Nevertheless, Nepalese officials appear serious about pursuing a case against Baker. Police superintendent Devendra Subedi, an organizer of the raid, contends that some of the objects found in Baker's home were stolen from Nepalese temples—a charge that Baker calls "completely false"—and that if Baker returns to Nepal he'll face immediate arrest and up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. At press time, in July, Baker's gardener was still in police custody.

Baker won't be extradited—there's no extradition treaty between the U.S. and Nepal—and Shrestha sounds optimistic about getting the charges dropped. "I think the worst that will happen is that he will pay a fine because some material he doesn't have permissions for," says Shrestha. "But he will be able to come back to Kathmandu, and stay for as long as he likes, and he will get his property back."

Whatever the true motivation for the raid, one thing seems clear: The upheaval surrounding the changing government has left Westerners vulnerable. "This has triggered a vibration through the expatriate community," says Adam Friedensohn, an American businessman who has lived in Kathmandu for 18 years. "You serve the country for 20 years, and your reward is a local media feeding frenzy about the evils of foreigners." As the Maoists move to consolidate their power, hundreds of expatriates in the Kathmandu Valley must be wondering if their own Shangri–Las will also be at risk.