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After a thief ripped 648 pages of historic maps, lithographs and other items from books at Western Washington University (WWU) in Bellingham in February 2006, librarian Rob Lopresti kept an eye on eBay, hoping to spot the stolen items as they were fenced. And spot some he did. His sleuthing, investigators say, helped expose a lucrative history-for-sale scheme that might have more victims than any in recent years.
On December 12, 2007, law enforcement officers used a warrant to search a house in Great Falls, Montana, where they discovered roughly 1,000 books from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries that had been taken from at least 100 university and local libraries across the country, according to Great Falls detective Bruce McDermott. Besides the books, he says, they found some 20,000 individual pages of maps and other documents, each apparently ripped from a book.
In contrast, the thief in the most publicized recent rare-documents case, map dealer E. Forbes Smiley III, stole from only half a dozen libraries before he was caught in 2005. And Gilbert Bland, a map dealer whose crimes in the 1990s became the subject of a book titled The Island of Lost Maps, struck only 19 libraries.
In the Montana case, McDermott says, records at the house suggest that the enterprise completed more than 9,000 eBay deals in 2007 alone, grossing almost $500,000. On March 27, federal agents arrested James Lyman Brubaker, 73, of Great Falls, and charged him with transporting stolen property across state lines. According to an affidavit in the case, among the items found at Brubaker's house were magnets apparently used to deactivate security strips, which libraries place in books to trigger an alarm if a volume has not been properly checked out. The affidavit also said that officers found "paints, adhesive remover, and other items believed to be used to remove library identification markings from books."
The breakthrough in Great Falls came after Lopresti used a feature on eBay that alerted him whenever an item that contained certain key words was offered for sale. He and his staff had chosen about 40 such terms because various stolen pages contained them. Within a month, Lopresti says, it was apparent that an eBay seller in Montana had many pages similar to those taken from WWU.
Eventually, Lopresti says, he turned to two friends on the East Coast to act as buyers, because the seller might be leery about bids coming from Washington State. The friends won the bidding for two suspicious pages, and in September 2006, the state crime lab matched their paper and tear marks with torn pages in WWU books.
More than a year passed, however, before authorities obtained the search warrant. Sgt. Bianca L. Smith of the WWU police attributes the delay in part to the complexity of a case involving two states, Washington and Montana, and the federal government. She notes, too, that no one was in physical danger. During the long wait, Lopresti says, he kept seeing items sold on eBay that might have belonged to WWU. "I was going crazy," he says.
Identifying the legitimate owners of the books found at the Great Falls house should not be difficult, because most contain library stamps or catalog numbers. But matching the thousands of individual pages with libraries might prove impossible, because a single map or photo ripped from a volume rarely has marks identifying where it came from.
A page could be from any existing copy of a book, and there might be many copies around the world.
Meanwhile, Lopresti and WWU have dramatically stepped up security, so that history cannot walk out the door again.
Comments
This is yet another example of the negative factors that the internet and greedy self-fullfilling companies like EBAY that have sprung up as a result of the drop in ethics and values that has plagued our country and culture as of late. Stealing from libraries and universities that rely on the public dollar to maintain and keep running is as low as stealing food from a rest-home or elementary school. I sincerely hope that this individual is found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Posted by Michael Shawn Woolsey on March 26,2008 | 11:31 AM
The Great Falls Tribune reports: Book-bagger suspect nabbed in Great Falls Police arrested a Great Falls man (James Brubaker) Thursday (March 27, 2008) on charges related to the theft of valuable historic books and documents from libraries across the United States and Canada. Good news for book lovers everywhere... I hope they can make the charges stick.
Posted by Andrew Finch on March 27,2008 | 05:38 PM
Theft from libraries has always been a problem. What eBay does is offer the greatest fencing opportunity for stolen goods since warfare was invented. However, short of law enforcement acting faster than a year (does it take that long for crimes involving theft of cash if 2 states are working together? I doubt it.) doing anything else would have tipped off the seller. But one year is way too long, and I think shows again that law enforcement takes library theft less seriously than it should. I do hope however that WWU was tracking who bought what. I imagine a number of folks will be contacted and forced to return materials. If they don't, I hope they are sued.
Posted by Thucydides Junior on March 28,2008 | 10:15 AM
So what responsibility does eBay play in all this? While it may be difficult to identify and stop fencing of stolen items, I have been personally frustrated at my inability to stop people selling frauds and forgeries to unsuspecting buyers. eBay certainly does not make it easy.
Posted by Tim Schmidt on March 30,2008 | 02:05 AM
Having been made aware of these comments, I felt it necessary to respond and fairly address the 'eBay question'. From the onset of the Great Falls PD portion of this investigation, once it became clear that Mr. Brubaker was selling stolen items on eBay, the eBay Fraud Investigation Team was immediately contacted. I have to say that their investigative branch was very easy to deal with and proactive on moving to cancel Brubaker's account. When he opened another account under another name, eBay once again canceled his account. They were approachable and very helpful in providing investigative materials to me in this investigation. Honestly, from my past experiences, it use to take much time and effort to gain this cooperation, however they really came through in this case and helped us immensely. Regarding the concern "that law enforcement takes library theft less seriously than it should", never once had we placed this case on the back burner and the Federal investigation and prosecution (not to mention the large property recovery) would support this commitment to investigate and bring to justice all types of crime. Thank you and best regards.
Posted by Bruce McDermott (detective GFPD) on March 31,2008 | 01:34 PM
Shame on eBay for making it so easy to fence documents and artifacts. The suspect finally arrested has been known in this area as Jimmy the Countifieter, Jimmy the Forger and Jimmy Swippey. eBay was a natural for him. ebay should be made to guarantee everything it sells and to provide bond.Who needs eBay anway?
Posted by Don Patrick on March 31,2008 | 04:27 PM
I HOPE THEY STRING HIM UP... ANYONE HAVE ANY STRING?
Posted by RANDALL SECREST on April 1,2008 | 01:21 PM
It's not merely the internet. Orlando's Orange County's patrons aren't nearly so erudite. Several of the libraries prints and plates of nudes have been destroyed. Congratulations, Julie Fitzgerald and Rob Lopresti!
Posted by Leigh on April 2,2008 | 06:43 AM
There's probably always been crime, can't blame the internet for this.
Posted by Mike S on April 5,2008 | 06:31 AM
I'm appalled that anyone literate enough to read Smithsonian would blame eBay for this crime. Show me a society in which commerce among members of the community doesn't exist and I'll show you one that is, in Hobbes' words, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." A marketplace that is transparent and has low costs is a great advantage to a society, and eBay has consistently been committed to stopping illegal activities, even if their sheer size might make it difficult to communicate with them. I just hope some part of that half million is available to replace the damaged books. Go Vikings! Van
Posted by G. Armour Van Horn on April 5,2008 | 01:00 PM
The auto maker cannot be indicted for a crime in which the perpetrator uses a car to commit the crime, nor can the U.S. Post Office be considered an accessory to a crime when it is the intermediary in the commission of a crime, such as fraud. How can e-bay, distinguish between normal and legal and illegal transactions between consenting parties who hold the transactions secret? One way the might discourage such transactions would be to hold both the seller and the buyer responsible and punish both accordingly.
Posted by Maury Leon on April 7,2008 | 03:41 PM
I am truly surprised at the responses defending eBay. While I admit that their intentions were harmless enough, they have taken no steps to slow down their evolution into becoming the nation's largest proprietor of stolen goods. I work for a large corporation that now has in place a task force that day in and day monitors eBay for goods stolen from us. On our own we have recovered millions without any assistance from them whatsoever. To date they have been wholly uncooperative when asked. We all enjoy getting a good deal, but is it really necessary for us to make it so woefully simple for people to make such a comfortable living selling stolen goods, much less priceless and irreplaceable pieces of history? The folks at eBay aren't exactly running a nonprofit rummage sale.
Posted by Andrew Fischer on April 21,2008 | 05:50 PM
Bruce - I'd like to thank you for commenting on this story, and for being open with details and opinion on the matter. Hearing some of your side of the story adds depth and detail to our understanding of the situation. Your comments are much appreciated.
Posted by Eric Gjerde on April 27,2008 | 11:30 AM
The fact that thieves list these items on e-bay shows their stupidity. Listing them on e-bay affords us the opportunity to see the items and as in the article, track them down, get them back, and prosecute the thieves. These are horrendous crimes and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law - even if it is a 'first offense.'
Posted by Deborah on May 2,2008 | 02:02 PM