RBMS Security Committee: Theft Reports 2002
This is a list of incidents reported in the public media and on open listservs, such as Exlibris. The "Incidents of Theft" list was begun in 1987 and is updated by a member of the RBMS Security Committee. Although known to be incomplete, the list does provide an indication of the extent and variety of reported and alleged thefts. For reports in the Exlibris electronic discussion list since April 1991, consult the list archives.
The following list contains notices of thefts that occurred or were reported from January 2002 to December 2002. For additional coverage or for information on how to report notices for possible inclusion on the list, please consult the cumulative index.
2002
November 2002
A California man lost his library privileges for three years after admitting he stole more than 3,000 books and videotapes. As a condition of his probation, 85-year-old Ernest Heyneman is not allowed to own a library card or go to any library, said Ventura County deputy district attorney Audry Rohn. Authorities also have the right to search him and his home for stolen property. Prosecutors didn't seek prison time for Heyneman in light of his age, his failing health and his lack of a criminal record, Rohn said. In December 2001, sheriff's deputies raided his hilltop ranch home and found an estimated $26,000 worth of material from the Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley libraries. In September 2002, Heyneman pleaded no contest to one count of felony commercial burglary. Library officials described Heyneman as a devoted patron who spent hours at the library every week culling the stacks for information on health and fitness, music and classic television shows. Over several years, Heyneman would check out items from the libraries, take them home and remove their security strips before returning them. After he returned the items, and they were put back on the shelves, Heyneman would go back and smuggle out the desensitized materials without setting off any alarms. The materials will be returned, Rohn said.
Source: Chicago Tribune, 12 November 2002, and many other news outlets; reported on Museum Security Network, 15 November 2002.
A William Faulkner letter that was purchased on eBay in October 2002 for $1,200 turned out to have been stolen from Southeast Missouri State University. Seth Berner, a collector and book dealer in Portland, Maine, purchased the short typewritten note in which Faulkner commended producer Lamar Trotti on his most recent film "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943) starring Henry Fonda. Portland police Detective Richard Swift notified Berner that the letter was one of three that had been reported stolen from the university's collection, where they were kept in a seldom visited, rare book room that has an alarm. Berner turned the letter he had bought over to police, to be returned to the university. He hoped to recover some of his money from the dealer he bought the letter from, who guaranteed it.
The school had been alerted to the sales by a dealer who knew they were part of the university collection. According to information provided Portland police, the only people to view the collection outside the curator and library director were a scholar from Japan and a traveling salesman who signed in as R. Smith when he viewed the collection Sept. 27. The library does not suspect the Japanese scholar. The dealer selling the letters said he acquired them from a grocery clerk who said he inherited them from his grandmother's estate, police said.
Source: Portland Press Herald, 14 November 2002; reported on Museum Security Network, 15 November 2002;
Four rare books stolen from Russian libraries were returned after authorities detained three people in the thefts, police said. The suspects were allegedly involved in the theft of at least 20 books from major libraries in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Volga River cities of Saratov and Kazan over the past three years. A copy of Newton's "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" published in London in 1687 and a 1913 illustrated edition of poems by Russian futurist Konstantin Bolshakov 'Le Futur' were stolen from the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg on November 6. On the same day, an 1813 edition of English philosopher Robert Owen's 'New View of Society' was taken from the reading room of the Russian Academy of Sciences Library, also in St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburg State University library later reported the disappearance of another copy of Newton's "Mathematical Principles." The four books were estimated to be worth a total of US$85,000, police said. The suspects, who all live in the Central Russian city of Saratov, were named as 29-year-old Svetlana Danilina, the head of the Electropribor construction bureau in the city; 33-year-old Dmitry Zinchenko, an unemployed veteran of Russia's special forces; and 22-year-old Pavel Prokofyev, an employee at a prison. All three have university degrees in either philology or history. Zinchenko, considered to be the leader of the group, attempted to commit suicide in the course of his arrest. During their investigation, the police found a database of files for various valuable book sales on his computer.
A commission from the Culture Ministry, dispatched to the Russian National Library after the thefts were reported, evaluated the security measures at the institution and submitted a list of recommendations on tightening the situation at the library, said Yelena Nebogatikova, the deputy head of the library. At present, security measures at the library are relatively lax, with patrons required to have a control slip that they receive on entering the facility stamped by a person on duty in the department from which they receive materials upon their return. A police officer at the library exit, who is responsible for checking the slips, may also require those leaving the library to submit to a search of any bags they are carrying. There are no electronic or other technical security systems in place. The three suspects were arrested on charges under Article 164, Part 1, of the Russian Criminal Code, which covers the theft of articles of special cultural value.
Source: Reported by Irina Titova in the St. Petersburg Times, 19 November 2002; Museum Security Network, 20 November 2002
September 2002
According to Associated Press reports, Joseph Frontino, a Santa Fe and Albuquerque lawyer convicted of stealing dozens of prints from The University of New Mexico library collection and selling them to galleries, was arrested in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and was facing extradition back to New Mexico. Frontino had been sentenced in August 2000 to four years in prison, followed by five years' probation, after pleading guilty to three counts of embezzlement. Frontino was caught embezzling art and photography from the UNM library from June through December 1997. Frontino was indicted in December 1999 on 21 counts of embezzlement and criminal damage to property. He sold more than 50 prints to the Andrew Smith and Scheinbaum & Russek photo galleries in Santa Fe in 1998. At least two dozen were original Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand and Edward Steichen prints stolen from the UNM library's special collection. Frontino repeatedly told the gallery that he had bought the prints from various print shops about 20 years ago when he was a law student in Philadelphia. The theft was discovered as the library prepared to reshelve some books. Library officials estimated it would cost $300,000 to replace the damaged publications.
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican, 25 September 2002; reported on Museum Security Network, 27 September 2002.
August 2002
Information was published about the possible theft of first-edition books from libraries in middle Tennessee. Library markings were said to be removed from the first edition copies and replaced on cheaper editions, which were returned to the libraries. The doctored first editions were then being offered for sale.
Source: Story by Sue McLure in the Tennessean.com, August 6, 2002.
The American Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) issued a warning about an organized scheme for the fraudulent purchase of antiquarian books by individuals using stolen credit cards. The most recent purchases of this kind were initiated from Belgrade, but apparently the thieves have access to large blocks of stolen credit card numbers and are capable of changing their identities and addresses, including country of origin. The thieves primarily order books in the few hundred to thousands of dollars apiece category. However, according to MBNA Bank, they are often testing each stolen card by initially ordering a low value item first, to make certain that the card works prior to charging up thousands of dollars on it. Some fraudulently acquired material was found for sale on eBay. Names mentioned in the reports included "Milos", " Milos Ljevaja" and "Slavka". Booksellers receiving suspicious orders were asked to contact Ken Sanders, Chair, ABAA Security Committee, at ken@dreamgarden.com; Tel: (801) 521-3819; Fax: (801) 521-2606.
Source: Posting by Roger Wicker on exlibris, August 15, 2002, citing messages from Ken Sanders which had appeared on the ABAA member site.
The Dickens House Museum in central London was reportedly robbed during opening hours on 15 August 2002. Three first editions of A Christmas Carol, worth £20,000 to £30,000 each, were taken from a locked cabinet using a glass-cutter. Attempts to cut glass from a cabinet containing copies of Dickens' Pickwick Papers were unsuccessful.
Source: Reported by Leigh Montgomery on exlibris, citing article on Ananova, 22 August 2002.
A Nashville man was reportedly arrested for stealing first-edition books from at least a dozen libraries in middle Tennessee. Mark Doiron of Nashville was named in complaints filed by library officials in Lebanon, Murfreesboro, and Cookeville, TN. Doiron turned himself in on August 9 and gave police 52 of 63 first-edition books missing from the Linebaugh Library in Murfreesboro library since January, according to the Associated Press. Librarians said that Doiron had checked out tens of thousands of dollars of books. He then removed the bar codes and other identifying marks and put them on cheaper versions of the same books--which he then returned to the library. Said his lawyer, "He's a collector of books and wanted to get money to buy more. He regrets what he did and wants to make full restitution to all parties concerned." Director Laurel Best of the Linebaugh Library told the AP that she will ask her board whether the returned first editions should go back on the shelves or be handled differently.
Source: Library Journal Academic News Wire: August 20, 2002
July 2002
The Cambridge University Library Map Department reported the apparent theft on 16 July 2002 of the following volume:
A prospect of the most famous parts of the world, viz. Asia Africa Europe America (1646) bound with: England Wales Scotland and Ireland described and abridged from a farr larger volume done by John Speed (1627 reissued in [1646]). The second title is described as item 37 in R. A. Skelton's County atlases of the British Isles 1579-1703.
The pocket atlas was described as small (ca. 11 x 16 cm), with a Cambridge University Library ownership stamp on the back of the title page and elsewhere in the volume.
The police were informed. Anyone with information was asked to contact Anne Taylor, Head of the Map Department, Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DR ENGLAND. Tel: +44 (0)1223-33304; Fax: +44 (0)1223-333160; email: aemt2@cam.ac.uk.
Source: Museum Security Network special announcement, July 19, 2002.
The Lethbridge (Alberta) Public Library suffered the theft of about approximately 50 portrait photographs of Native people. The photographs, dating from about 1894, are sepia-toned and approximately 11" x 14" in size. They are all identified and signed by the photographer, F.A. Rinehart of Omaha, Nebraska. They were cut out of an album, and so may appear to have a brown matte. Anyone with information was asked to call Linda McElravey at the Lethbridge Public Library at (403) 380-7312; e-mail lpl@chonookarch.ab.ca.
Source: ARCAN-L, July 29, 2002
May 2002
Terry Potticary, a library assistant at the London School of Economics, was accused of stealing antiquarian books between November 1999 and March 2001 and trying to sell them through auction houses such as Christieís and Bonhams in London. Authorities said Potticary took books belonging to Kingís College, London and the London School of Economics, but staff at British auction houses contacted police when they spotted library markings on the works. Potticary denied the charges, saying that he had been given permission to take duplicate books from library gift donations and that rare titles from other libraries were mistakenly included with his collection as he began to trade books commercially. Potticary was eventually cleared of charges.
Source: Story dated May 9, 2002 by Melvyn Howe in The Independent; Library Journal Academic News Wire: May 14, 2002; June 4, 2002.
April 2002
Yogyakarta Palace on the Indonesian island of Java has called for the return of thousands of ancient books that were looted from its library by Dutch and British soldiers during the colonial era, especially between 1808 to 1816. According to Prince Joyokusumo, vanished volumes included works of poetry from the ancient Mataram Kingdom (8th-10th centuries), which had Yogyakarta as its capital. Some of the missing books can be identified from the words "Kawedanan agung punokawan widya wiwaha" written on them.
Source: American Libraries, May 2002, p. 35, citing a story in the Jakarta Post, April 7, 2002.
William Simon Jacques, 33, was jailed for stealing more than 400 books and pamphlets worth £1.1 million from collections at the British Library, Cambridge University Library and London Library between July 1994 and May 1999. Jacques was found guilty of 19 counts of theft after a trial in March 2001, and yesterday admitted two further counts of theft. Twelve other charges of theft were ordered to lie on the file.
Jacques, an accountant from Maida Vale, northwest London, read economics at Jesus College, Cambridge. He was captured when a London-based book dealer and auction houses in Britain and Germany became suspicious that books he lodged for sale had been tampered with to disguise the fact that they were stolen. Shortly after being arrested and questioned by police in 1999, Jacques fled to Cuba, leaving a note with his solicitor telling detectives that he had hidden books in safe deposit boxes in London, Cambridge and York. When detectives raided the boxes they discovered more than 60 rare books, a forgery kit and a collection of old yellowing pages that he had used to cover up library markings. Many of the books suffered irreparable damage at his hands. Among the books retrieved were Galileo's Sidereus nuncius, a work published in 1610 and valued at £180,000, Kepler's Astronomia Nova, published in 1609 and valued at £75,000 and Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, by René Descartes, 1637, worth £30,000, and two copies of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica, published in 1687 and valued at more than £130,000.
Prosecutors said that Jacques attempted to sell books through Bloomsbury Book Auctions and Christie's in London, and Zisska & Kistner and Galeria Gerda Bassenge in Berlin. New security measures are in place at the London Library in St James's Square and at Cambridge University Library.
Source: Abridged from story dated April 30, 2002 by Steven Bird in The London Times; reprinted on the Museum Security Network, May 1, 2002.
March 2002
During the night of 20 - 21 March 2002 thieves broke into the Plant Systematics Library of Utrecht University and stole an eight-volume set of Pierre Joseph Redouté's Les Liliacées (Paris : Didot Jeune, 1802-1816), containing 486 stipple engraved plates printed in colours and finished by hand. (Bibliographical reference: Stafleu/Cowan no. 8747 en Nissen, Botanische Buchillustration, no. 1597). According to Hans Mulder, Curator of Printed Books, Utrecht University Library (Tel.: +31.30.2536634; E-mail: h.mulder@library.uu.nl), the theft was carefully planned and the thieves were clearly after the Redouté volumes. No other books were missing.
Source: Postings by Hans Mulder on the Museum Security Network and on Exlibris, 25 April 2002.
Columbia University Libraries reported that there was reason to believe that unrecovered materials from theft occurring in 1993/4 may be about to reappear on the market. The current list of materials still missing can be found at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/data/indiv/rare/missing. Columbia's information sources indicated that Daniel Spiegelman, the confessed thief, was on a work-release program, in New York. According to reports, Spiegelman was resentenced in 2000 after having escaped from his original work-release venue to offer some of Columbia's previously unrecovered items for sale to a Connecticut dealer. Questions should be addressed to Jean Ashton, Director, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University [212-854-2232 (phone); 212-854-1365 (fax); jwa8@columbia.edu (email)], or the Columbia University Security Office (212-854-2796).
Source: ExLibris, 7 March 2002 (see also postings of 10 February 1999, 17 June 1995); Museum Security Network , 7 October 1999.
February 2002
New England Book Auctions reported that two volumes of the Annual Register, dated 1773 and 1783, went missing from the auction held 19 February 2002 in Northampton, MA.. Anyone with information was asked to contact Leif Laudamus (staff@meetinghousebooks.com ).
Source: Posting on Archives and Archivists listserv, 28 March 2002.
Concern was raised again about an incunable Bible that disappeared sometime between 1994 and 1996 from the former Clydesdale District Council (now South Lanarkshire Council) in the UK. The missing volume, thought to be a Koberg Bible (Nuremberg, 1478), was part of the large book collection which coal magnate William Hunter Selkirk gave to the people of Lanark in 1910. Renewed calls were made to track down and recover the missing book and to ensure that other volumes meant to inventory the book in the Council's treasure safe.
Source: Story by Shirley English in the London Times, February 6, 2002, reported via the Museum Security Network, February 17, 2002.
Shawn P. Aubitz, a long-time curator and archivist at the Philadelphia branch of the National Archives, was apprehended for the theft of historical documents, such as presidential pardons, between 1996 and 1999. The stolen items included 64 presidential pardons, 24 of which have been recovered; an 1863 warrant ordering the seizure of Robert E. Lee's estate during the Civil War; an 1851 grand jury document charging a Pennsylvania man with hindering apprehension of a runaway slave; and 316 autographed photographs of Apollo astronauts, which have not been found. At least one document was reported to have been for sale on eBay and this led to the arrest. Aubitz was charged with one count of theft by a government employee, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He was sentenced in August 2002 to 21 months in prison and was ordered to pay $73,793 in restitution. (Updated August 2002)
Source: Los Angeles Times, 12 February 2002; American Libraries, August 2002; Associated Press story in many newspapers.
A copy of the Vizoly Bible (1590), the first Bible translated into Hungarian (by Karoli Gaspar), was stolen after a break-in at a church in the town of Vizoly, Hungary. Only around 20 copies of the Bible are thought to exist, and its auction value is estimated at around $100,000. Hungarian agencies were offering substantial rewards for information leading to the return of the Bible.
Source: BBC News, 11 February 2002; Chicago Tribune Internet Edition, 13 February 2002