RBMS Security Committee: Theft Reports 2011
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 in 2011. For additional coverage or for information on how to report notices for possible inclusion on the list, please consult the cumulative index.
2011
November 2011
The Israeli paper Ma'ariv reported on November 25 that an investigation has revealed more than 400 items missing from the collections of the National Library of Israel, including Einstein and Chagall letters, Kafka manuscripts, poems by Chaim Nachman Bialik, and musical scores by Handel and Brahms. Some items were found in the possession of collector Meir Bizinsky and returned to the library, although it is not proved that they were stolen. The police investigation also revealed that the director of the Music Library “had given items out openly and without any compensation, and maybe even lack of authority, and this included to Bizinsky.”
Source: Exlibris electronic mailing list, https://listserv.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/wa-iub.exe?A2=ind1111&L=EXLIBRIS-L&T=0&F=&S=&P=173458, November 25, 2011.
October 2011
UPDATE: According to an FBI press release of October 27, Jason James Savedoff of New York, New York pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal historical documents from museums in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut and selling them for profit. Savedoff and his co-conspirator, the noted collector James H. Landau, were charged this summer (see “Incidents of Theft” for July 2011) with one count of theft for over $100,000. In fact, according to the plea agreement, Savedoff and Landau stole or fraudulently acquired documents from multiple institutions, including the Maryland Historical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Connecticut Historical Society, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, a component of the National Archives. These targets and others were chosen based on the extent and potential value of their manuscript holdings. The plea contains detailed information on how the thefts were planned and executed. Savedoff, directed by Landau, would conduct research beforehand on the contents of collections, then together they would visit collections posing as researchers and use a variety of techniques to accomplish the thefts. The plea states, “These techniques included concealing documents inside sports coats and other outerwear which had been modified to contain hidden pockets, as well as distracting museum curators to disguise their actions. Once a document had been stolen, steps were taken to remove any marking or inventory control notations made on the document. A checklist was prepared for each stolen document which identified the author and date of the document; the collection from which it was stolen; whether the museum card catalogue had been collected; whether there existed any microfilm or other “finding aid” for the document at the museum; the nature of any markings on the document: and whether any museum markings had been removed from the document. In an effort to conceal the theft, Savedoff and his co-conspirator often took the card catalogue entries and other “finding aids,” making it difficult for the museum to discover that an item was missing.” Staff at the Maryland Historical Society called police in response to behavior they deemed suspicious and the police, using Savedoff’s locker key, found documents stolen from the Maryland Historical Society and other institutions, including papers signed by Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, and others.
Savedoff faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy and 10 years in prison for theft of the documents. Sentencing is scheduled for February 10, 2012.
Source: FBI press release, “Jason James Savedoff Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Steal Valuable Historical Documents,” http://www.fbi.gov/baltimore/press-releases/2011/jason-james-savedoff-pleads-guilty-to-conspiring-to-steal-valuable-historical-documents, October 27, 2011.
UPDATE: The former Drew University student who pleaded guilty to stealing valuable historical documents from the university's United Methodist Archives Center (see "Incidents of Theft" for January 2011) was sentenced to three years' probation and 300 hours of community service. While on probation, he cannot be employed at a job where he has access to items of cultural heritage.
Source: Article, Peggy Wright, "Ex-Drew student gets probation for swiping historical documents," http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011310070022, October 7, 2011.
September 2011
UPDATE: CBC News reports that in June of 2011, a bronze statuette of 18th-century British general James Wolfe resurfaced with an anonymous note apologizing for the theft of the object more than 60 years ago from a preservation room in the Public Archives of Canada. Acquisitions records verify that the statuette had indeed been part of the collection. The statuette was returned to Library and Archives Canada on Wednesday, September 21, slightly damaged. The identity of the thief is still a mystery.
Source: Article, "Archives Canada reclaims mysterious Gen. Wolfe statue," http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/09/21/ottawa-wolfe-statue-missing.html, September 21, 2011.
UPDATE: The St. Paul Star Tribune reported on July 6th, 2011 that Amanda Marie Cortright, a clerk employed for thirteen years at the main branch of the St. Paul Library (Minnesota) has been convicted and sentenced for the theft of 1,400 books, DVD's and magazines taken from the library over several years. Ms. Cortright had access to library computer systems and was able to commit the crime by manipulating user and checkout data. The library estimated the value of materials stolen at just under $38,000. Cortright pled guilty in April 2011 and was sentenced to 30 days of home confinement under electronic monitoring, 10 years of probation, and 200 hours of community service. On successful completion of probation, the crime will be downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor. All of the missing materials were found in Cortright's home and returned to the library. She must reimburse the library $11,585 for documenting the missing items and restoring them to the shelves.
Sources: September 2011 AE Monthly: http://www.americanaexchange.com/ae/aemonthly/AEMonthlySingleArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1165&Month=9&Year=2011&Page=1. and St. Paul Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/125116169.html
July 2011
UPDATE: Following the discovery in February 2011 of the systematic theft of valuable antiquarian books from its collections, the National Library of Peru reports that the total number of missing books is 932; most of them are about the conflict between Peru and Chile. One of the thefts was committed by an employee of a private company hired to perform an inventory of the collections; the theft was captured on video by that company's security cameras, loaned for the duration of the job. Because of government-imposed austerity measures, the library, which was opened last year, still does not have its own security cameras or a bibliographic management software system, and much of its collection remains unrecorded.
Source: Article, LivinginPeru.com, "932 books stolen from the National Library of Peru," http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-230-932-books-stolen-from-the-National-Library-of-Peru/, July 26, 2011.
UPDATE: One of the books stolen from the Swedish National Library in the early 2000s by an employee has been discovered in the possession of a New York dealer: a 16th-century atlas of the New World called Descriptionis Ptolemaicae augmentum, sive Occidentis notitia brevi commentary, printed by Cornelis van Wytfliet. The identity of the book has been confirmed by photos and descriptions sent back and forth between the dealer and the library. This is the first of the stolen books--collectively worth $1.4 million--to be located; it has changed hands a number of times since its original sale in 2003. The thief was a respected specialist who pilfered books and sold them to auction houses; he committed suicide soon after giving a confession to police. At the time, due to the ongoing police investigation, the library was not allowed to make a list of stolen titles, and the New York dealer bought the atlas in good faith. It has appreciated in value and the library does not have the means to buy it back.
Sources: Article, Rebecca Martin, "Swedish Librarians Find Stolen Atlas in New York," http://www.thelocal.se/35034/20110719/, July 19, 2011; exlibris electronic mailing list, July 28–29, 2011.
UPDATE: Convicted book thief John Gilkey was re-apprehended on July 14. An open letter to dealers by Inspector Jeff Levin of the SFPD was posted in FineBooksMagazine.com on 7/20/2011, informing the community that, "Earlier this month convicted fraudster and thief John Charles Gilkey of California was arrested for a parole violation stemming from a series of incidents in San Francisco late last year. Now that he has been re-apprehended, he will be brought up again on charges either later this month or next in San Francisco." The letter encourages dealers to supply police with information about stolen goods so that a search warrant can be obtained for Gilkey's storage locker.
Sources: ABAA Missing and Stolen Books Blog; article, Brian Cassidy, "John Gilkey Update: Open Letter to Dealers in the Collectibles Trades," http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2011/07/john-gilkey-update-open-letter-to-dealers-in-the-collectibles-trades.phtml
UPDATE: It was reported that noted collector James H. Landau and James Savedoff were charged with one count of theft over $100,000, and may have been planning to steal up to 60 documents from the Maryland Historical Society. At the time of writing, an FBI investigation was continuing and a preliminary hearing had been scheduled.
Source: Story by Justin Fenton in the Baltimore Sun, July 12, 2011.
UPDATE: A July 7th 2011 article in the Guardian by Giles Tremlett reports that a priceless 12-century manuscript known as the Codex Calixtinus has gone missing from a safe in the archives of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. It is believed to have been stolen on Sunday July 3rd but archivists did not note its disappearance until Tuesday July 5th.
The Codex consists of 225 parchment pages and is heavily illustrated. It includes a guide to the pilgrimage routes to Santiago written by a French friar and has been described as Europe's first travel guide.
Few people have access to the safe and security cameras were in place in the archives although none were pointed directly at the safe. There was no sign of forced entry and the Spanish newspaper El Correo Gallego states that police believe the theft may have been commissioned by a black market manuscript dealer and perpetrated by professional thieves.
As reported by guardian.co.uk, Thursday 7 July 2011 14.44 BST, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/07/codex-calixtinus-manuscript-stolen-santiago-compostela and El Correo Gallego, http://www.elcorreogallego.es/galicia/ecg/dean-afirma-quien-llevo-codice-calixtino-sabia-llegar/idEdicion-2011-07-07/idNoticia-684893/
UPDATE: A warning about the renewed activity of known thief John Gilkey (see “Incidents of Theft” for February 2003) was circulated by the Security Committee of the ABAA to its membership and reposted on Exlibris on July 5, 2011 by Tavistock Books. It was also posted to the ABAA’s Missing and Stolen Books blog. Dealer Ken Sanders, who was previously involved in getting Gilkey arrested, confirmed the report.
Sources: Exlibris electronic mailing list, July 5–6, 2011; article, Howard Berkes, "Literary Larceny: A Book Thief Meets His Match," http://www.wbur.org/npr/121489286/literary-larceny-a-book-thief-meets-his-match, January 1, 2010
Former University of Hawaii Manoa student Timothy Perry, 22, was arrested July 2, 2011 for the alleged theft of approximately 200 art and travel-related books from the Hamilton Library. The books were stolen from the general stacks and had a replacement value of $40,000–$100,000. Perry offered a selection of the books to rare book dealer Michael S. Hollander of San Rafael, CA, but Hollander, noting the presence of UH library stamps and bookplates, confirmed with the library that the books were stolen and alerted the FBI. The manager of Perry’s apartment building also called police after seeing him loading large quantities of library books onto an elevator. Perry, who turned himself in, has been released pending investigation. All of the stolen books have been accounted for and returned to the library.
Sources: Articles, Brianne Randle, “Former UH Manoa Student Arrested for Hamilton Library Book Theft,” http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Former-UH-Manoa-student-arrested-for-Hamilton/uL4qRBYNk0Oll1RAZhm0tQ.cspx, “UH Books Buyer Speaks,” http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/UH-books-buyer-speaks/kKcmVs11yk6mOT7nx4WZuQ.cspx
January 2011
UPDATE: A former Drew University student pleaded guilty this week to stealing valuable historical documents from the university's United Methodist Archives Center while working there as a paid student assistant.
William Scott, of Longmeadow, Mass., admitted Tuesday in U.S. District Court to stealing a number of items from the archives, including letters from presidents of the United States and a 1766 letter written by one of the founders of Methodism, which is worth about $5,000. Scott also had sold a number of the documents to historical document dealers in the U.S. and abroad, according to the three-page plea agreement.
Scott, an 18-year-old Drew freshman at the time of the thefts, was a paid student assistant from October 2009 to March 2010 in the archives, home to the official archival repository for The United Methodist Church. The center houses about 145 letters of John and Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism, valued on the open market at between $5,000 and $12,000 per letter. In addition, the center stores letters written by Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower to Methodist bishops.
Neither Scott nor his attorney could be reached for comment.
Source: Article, "Laura Bruno Drew University student admits stealing historic documents from school", http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20110105/UPDATES01/301050013/Drew-University-student-admits-stealing-historic-documents-from-school, January 5, 2011, Museum Security Network, museum_security_network@googlegroups.com, posted January 5, 2011
A volunteer at one of the world's largest privately held Holocaust archives was arrested Wednesday [January 12, 2011] accused of pilfering thousands of priceless documents to sell online. Authorities said Mansal Denton, 20, began volunteering at the Mazal Holocaust Library in Hill Country Village, an enclave of San Antonio, in June 2009. Denton was assigned to scan documents to put on the non-profits website.
After his home was searched Wednesday by district attorney's office investigators, the Texas Rangers and Hill Country Village police, Denton was charged with second-degree felony theft between $100,000 and $200,000. Library Owner, Larry Mazal told investigators he began noticing missing documents last January and eventually came to suspect Denton, according to the district attorney's office.
In December, Mazal conducted a Google search for "Nuremberg Organization" and found some of the documents that had gone missing listed for sale by Denton. Last week, he set up a surveillance camera in the library as Denton volunteered and recorded him taking documents, the affidavit states. Confronted by police officers outside of the library, Denton admitted to having sold many documents to a man in Florida, but claimed other items had been returned to the library.
Source: Article, Craig Kapitan, "Man arrested in theft from Holocaust archives in San Antonio", Houston Chronicle, www.chron.com, January 12, 2011