As 2009 makes its arrival (in a bone-chilling way here in Boston: it's currently 6 degrees, with a wind chill making it feel like -13), The Guardian looks back at 2008 in books, an interesting compilation of last year's biblio-news.
Concerning other matters of interest (presumably) to you all, dear readers, here are some of the highlights and lowlights (mostly the latter, unfortunately) from 2008 in book crime. The hyperlinks on each person's name will take you to previous posts related to their crimes. Following the chronology is a list of thefts from this year which remain unsolved.
- The Transy Four failed in their bid to obtain reduced prison sentences when a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals ruled that they should have received more prison time rather than less. (February) Unfortunately their trial judge ignored the appeals court and let her original sentences stand. (October)
- Eight books stolen from a Slovakian library in December 2007 were recovered in a Bupadest bookshop. (February)
- Jay Miller was sentenced to an eighteen-month prison term for the theft of rare books and antiques from the estate of retired Harvard professor William Ernest Hocking. (March) He was released from prison after only seven months. (November)
- Oliver Fallon, who stole materials from the Scottish Catholic Archive in Edinburgh, was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and ordered to pay a fine of £16,000. (May)
- Peter Joseph Bellwood was sentenced to one year in prison, to be followed by five years' expulsion from Denmark, and ordered to pay a 324,000 kroner ($67,000) fine for the theft of maps from the collections of the Danish Royal Library. (May) Bellwood is currently serving a 4.5-year prison term in Britain for thefts from the National Library of Wales.
- William Simon Jacques, suspected of stealing books from the Royal Horticultural Society in London, skipped bail and is believed to remain at large. (May)
- Raymond Scott, an eccentric British book dealer, was arrested after the recovery of Durham University's First Folio, which Scott took to the Folger Library for authentication. (July) Scott filed suit against the university claiming it's not their Folio (October), but was was later re-arrested in the First Folio case, and then again for stealing books from a Waterstone's shop (November)
- In the case of César Gómez Rivero, Spanish paper El Pais reported that two South American associates of Rivero had been identified, and that investigations continue. (August)
- Richard Delaney, who stole £89,000 worth of rare books and maps from Birmingham University, was sentenced to a one-year prison term (which the judge ordered suspended for eighteen months). (August)
- Eugene Zollman was indicted on charges that he stole Jefferson Davis materials from Transylvania University in 1994. The case was assigned to judge Jennifer Coffman, the same judge who ruled in the Transy Four case. Zollman's case is pending. (August)
- James Brubaker was sentenced to 30 months and prison and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution to more than 100 libraries from which he stole more than 1000 items. (September)
- Edward Renehan, former head of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, was sentenced to an eighteen-month prison term, plus two years of supervised release and the forfeiture of $86,700 (which he'd received for the sale of letters he stole from the TRA's collections). (September)
- Several books stolen from a Vienna bookshop in October 2007 were recovered in Toronto, but the suspects in the case were not expected to face charges. Other books from the heist had been recovered earlier in Europe. (October)
- Joshua McCarty and two associates (Zachary Scranton and Angela Bays) were arrested in relation to the theft of two rare Ohio law books from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center (September). McCarty and Scranton were later indicted (October). The case is still pending, so far as I can tell.
- Daniel Lorello, a former employee at the New York State Archives who stole items from the State Library, was sentenced to 2-6 years in prison (which I still think is an awfully wide range), ordered to pay $129,500 in restitution, to be divided among people who unknowingly bought stolen property, and agreed to forfeit his personal collection of historic artifacts and documents, valued at approximately $80,000, to the New York State Library and Archives. (October)
- Denning McTague, who stole Civil War documents from the National Archives in Philadelphia while working there as an intern, was released from prison after serving twelve months of a fifteen-month term. (October)
- Book collector Farhad Hakimzadeh was arrested on charges that he defaced more than 150 books at several British libraries in order to "improve his personal collection" with the illustrations and maps. (November) He'll be sentenced this month.
- Laessio Rodrigues de Oliveira was sentenced to five years in prison for the theft of several rare books from the Institute for Research Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro. (December)
- Lester Weber, former curator of the Mariners' Museum, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to theft, mail fraud and filing false tax returns. Weber stole more than 3,500 documents from the museum and sold them on eBay (most have not been recovered). Weber's wife, Lori Childs, was sentenced to a fifteen-month prison term for filing a false tax return. (December)
The following thefts from 2008 remain unsolved (as far as I know):
- A large collection of maps and atlases, stolen from a London collector's office in December.
- A number of rare books stolen from a display case at Boston's Old South Church in September.
- A Mark Twain letter, reported missing after the Denver Book Fair in August.
- Four manuscript diaries from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, stolen at Boston's South Station in March.
Updates or additions always appreciated.
Showing posts with label Renehan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Renehan. Show all posts
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Renehan Sentenced
Whoops, almost let one of our theft cases slip by!
Edward Renehan, who pleaded guilty in May to the theft of several letters from the Theodore Roosevelt Association, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin also tacked on "two years of supervised release, ordered him to pay $86,700 in restitution to the Manhattan gallery through which he sold the letters, and ordered that he forfeit $86,700 and any rights or interest he may have had in the stolen letters to the United States."
Chin observed before handing down the sentence that a prison term was "warranted in part because Renehan held a position of trust with the Theodore Roosevelt Association" (he was the interim executive director when the thefts occurred).
Renehan faced up to 30 months in jail; his attorneys had requested no jail time and a sentence of probation. Sentencing on state charges filed against Renehan for another theft was supposed to occur yesterday; I haven't seen reports on how that worked out, but the state judge had indicated that the federal and state sentences would run concurrently, so 18 months is probably it. Not bad, considering the alternative.
[Update: I'm informed Renehan's state sentencing has been postponed until 15 October].
Edward Renehan, who pleaded guilty in May to the theft of several letters from the Theodore Roosevelt Association, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin also tacked on "two years of supervised release, ordered him to pay $86,700 in restitution to the Manhattan gallery through which he sold the letters, and ordered that he forfeit $86,700 and any rights or interest he may have had in the stolen letters to the United States."
Chin observed before handing down the sentence that a prison term was "warranted in part because Renehan held a position of trust with the Theodore Roosevelt Association" (he was the interim executive director when the thefts occurred).
Renehan faced up to 30 months in jail; his attorneys had requested no jail time and a sentence of probation. Sentencing on state charges filed against Renehan for another theft was supposed to occur yesterday; I haven't seen reports on how that worked out, but the state judge had indicated that the federal and state sentences would run concurrently, so 18 months is probably it. Not bad, considering the alternative.
[Update: I'm informed Renehan's state sentencing has been postponed until 15 October].
Monday, June 23, 2008
Bipolar Disorder as a Criminal Defense
In the wake of Edward Renehan's attempted use of his bipolar disorder as a defense for stealing multiple items at multiple times from the collections of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, the New York Sun's Jay Akasie examines the issues surrounding this particular legal strategy. He quotes defense attorney Murray Richman: "Using bipolar disorder as a defense in a case is just not viable. It's absolutely not a defense — it's an excuse. It has nothing to do with a person's ability to know right from wrong."
Other lawyers told Akasie that "bipolar disorder can have so-called jury appeal if the sufferer has a long and well-documented history of aberrant behavior coupled with requests for institutional help," and that documented cases of bipolar disorder can be used to achieve more favorable plea deals. Most often, however, because bipolar disorder primarily "affects mood rather than cognition," it is not considered a valid insanity defense.
Other lawyers told Akasie that "bipolar disorder can have so-called jury appeal if the sufferer has a long and well-documented history of aberrant behavior coupled with requests for institutional help," and that documented cases of bipolar disorder can be used to achieve more favorable plea deals. Most often, however, because bipolar disorder primarily "affects mood rather than cognition," it is not considered a valid insanity defense.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Another Guilty Plea from Renehan
Historian Edward Renehan has entered a guilty plea in the charge against him for stealing a Theodore Roosevelt letter from the TRA, Newsday reports. Admitting "I took a letter from the association and subsequently endeavored to sell that item," Renehan pleaded guilty to the most serious charge, third-degree grand larceny (as prosecutors had said they would demand).
Nassau County court judge John Kase said Renehan's sentence on this plea will run concurrently with the federal sentence he'll receive in August for stealing Washington and Lincoln letters, also from the TRA. He'll face 24-30 months in prison total. The county sentence will be handed down on 15 September.
TRA president James Bruns said of the plea "We're pleased that this step of the process is over, and we're awaiting the sentencing. We hope that in the interim, he turns over the additional property that we believe he has." He told the paper that the association is still trying to determine how best to secure those further items they believe Renehan took. Renehan's lawyer calls the idea that Renehan has more things "spurious," and said that he believes Renehan's sentence should include only probation and restitution.
Nassau County court judge John Kase said Renehan's sentence on this plea will run concurrently with the federal sentence he'll receive in August for stealing Washington and Lincoln letters, also from the TRA. He'll face 24-30 months in prison total. The county sentence will be handed down on 15 September.
TRA president James Bruns said of the plea "We're pleased that this step of the process is over, and we're awaiting the sentencing. We hope that in the interim, he turns over the additional property that we believe he has." He told the paper that the association is still trying to determine how best to secure those further items they believe Renehan took. Renehan's lawyer calls the idea that Renehan has more things "spurious," and said that he believes Renehan's sentence should include only probation and restitution.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Links & Reviews
- Matthew Bruccoli, the noted bibliographer, literary biographer and leading scholar of F. Scott Fitzgerald, died on Wednesday. He was 76. Coverage from: NYTimes, The State, Fine Books Blog.
- Travis reports that Lester Weber will be entering a guilty plea. Add him to Renehan and Brubaker, Travis notes, and you've got the "book thief triple crown." Also from Travis, word that the case against Mrs. Brubaker have been dismissed, and that Mr. Brubaker will be in court on 23 June to formalize his guilty plea.
- From BibliOdyssey, a grand selection of engravings from Maria Sibylla Merian's Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium (1705). More images and background here.
- LISNews points out that librarians at the University of Michigan are engaged in "determining the copyright status of works typically presumed to be in copyright. For now, we're focusing on US monographic imprints (books, that is) published between 1923 and 1963, but plan to turn our attention to non-US publications in the future." This will be a very useful project in many respects, and I wish them all the best of luck with it.
- Book Dragon linked to the bizarre but hilarious blog Garfield Minus Garfield, which shows what that comic strip would look like ... without the cat.
- From the Times Higher Education Supplement, a fascinating article by Alistair McCleery on copyright law and literary estates.
- The New York Mercantile Library, founded in 1820, is looking to relocate from its current building at 17 East 47th Street, where it has been housed since 1932. The library will be renamed the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, and administrators are seeking new digs in "SoHo, TriBeCa or near the New Museum, the contemporary art museum in the Bowery."
- Everybody's talking about the cover of the current New Yorker. It's a classic.
- Brigham Young University has received a copy of the second edition of the Bible printed in Iceland (1643-44). The book was donated by Thor Leifson, the honorary consul of Iceland emeritus.
- This fall, Houghton Mifflin will be re-releasing a selection of some of J.R.R. Tolkien's minor works as Tales from the Perilous Realm.
Reviews
- Michael Dirda reviews Renee Winegarten's Germaine de Staël and Benjamin Constant: A Dual Biography (just out from Yale) in the Washington Post.
- Benjamin Wallace's The Billionaire's Vinegar is reviewed by Bruce Schoenfeld, also in the Washington Post.
- Travis reports that Lester Weber will be entering a guilty plea. Add him to Renehan and Brubaker, Travis notes, and you've got the "book thief triple crown." Also from Travis, word that the case against Mrs. Brubaker have been dismissed, and that Mr. Brubaker will be in court on 23 June to formalize his guilty plea.
- From BibliOdyssey, a grand selection of engravings from Maria Sibylla Merian's Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium (1705). More images and background here.
- LISNews points out that librarians at the University of Michigan are engaged in "determining the copyright status of works typically presumed to be in copyright. For now, we're focusing on US monographic imprints (books, that is) published between 1923 and 1963, but plan to turn our attention to non-US publications in the future." This will be a very useful project in many respects, and I wish them all the best of luck with it.
- Book Dragon linked to the bizarre but hilarious blog Garfield Minus Garfield, which shows what that comic strip would look like ... without the cat.
- From the Times Higher Education Supplement, a fascinating article by Alistair McCleery on copyright law and literary estates.
- The New York Mercantile Library, founded in 1820, is looking to relocate from its current building at 17 East 47th Street, where it has been housed since 1932. The library will be renamed the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, and administrators are seeking new digs in "SoHo, TriBeCa or near the New Museum, the contemporary art museum in the Bowery."
- Everybody's talking about the cover of the current New Yorker. It's a classic.
- Brigham Young University has received a copy of the second edition of the Bible printed in Iceland (1643-44). The book was donated by Thor Leifson, the honorary consul of Iceland emeritus.
- This fall, Houghton Mifflin will be re-releasing a selection of some of J.R.R. Tolkien's minor works as Tales from the Perilous Realm.
Reviews
- Michael Dirda reviews Renee Winegarten's Germaine de Staël and Benjamin Constant: A Dual Biography (just out from Yale) in the Washington Post.
- Benjamin Wallace's The Billionaire's Vinegar is reviewed by Bruce Schoenfeld, also in the Washington Post.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Renehan Comments on Thefts
A kind reader forwarded this article from the 29 May issue of the Providence Journal: in the piece, historian Edward Renehan comments on the bipolar disorder he believes led him to steal numerous letters from the Theodore Roosevelt Association and sell them. Renehan said "When I look back at what a madman I was … I’m stunned at what I did. The manic behavior is your enemy, but it’s also who you are." He added that his episodes "leave him feeling 'invulnerable and answerable to no one.' There is a temptation to 'skate near the edge and break the rules.'"
Renehan's lawyer told the paper he intends to urge leniency for his client (meaning no jail time, apparently). Peter Brill said "We don’t really think jail is appropriate under the circumstances. This was a single aberrant act in an otherwise honorable life." Except that it wasn't. Renehan pleaded guilty to stealing three letters, and he's still facing charges in Nassau County for the theft of another letter and the National Parks Service Investigative Services Branch believes he nabbed at least three additional items and sold them. So "single aberrant act" doesn't fly. Sorry.
Thankfully the defense isn't flying with the head of the TRA, James Bruns, who said "'My concern is that he did not steal one time. He consigned the stolen letters to a seller and cashed the checks 'multiple times.'" Bruns added that the Association is prepared to file civil suits in pursuit of additional items they believe were taken by Renehan.
Renehan's lawyer told the paper he intends to urge leniency for his client (meaning no jail time, apparently). Peter Brill said "We don’t really think jail is appropriate under the circumstances. This was a single aberrant act in an otherwise honorable life." Except that it wasn't. Renehan pleaded guilty to stealing three letters, and he's still facing charges in Nassau County for the theft of another letter and the National Parks Service Investigative Services Branch believes he nabbed at least three additional items and sold them. So "single aberrant act" doesn't fly. Sorry.
Thankfully the defense isn't flying with the head of the TRA, James Bruns, who said "'My concern is that he did not steal one time. He consigned the stolen letters to a seller and cashed the checks 'multiple times.'" Bruns added that the Association is prepared to file civil suits in pursuit of additional items they believe were taken by Renehan.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
More on Renehan
I've come across a bit more information on the Renehan thefts which I posted about yesterday. I mentioned then that one of the charges against Renehan was for possessing a forged document: that was "a letter purportedly signed by his predecessor [at the Theodore Roosevelt Association], John Gable, transferring ownership of the letter [that from TR discussing his son's death] to Renehan," according to an earlier Newsday article by Bill Bleyer.
Also, Renehan's legal team appears to be trying to muddy the waters by bringing up a 15-year old embezzlement case against another former head of the TRA which was kept quiet by the organization. Along with the bipolar argument, a very interesting strategy ... but this seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the current case.
Also, Renehan's legal team appears to be trying to muddy the waters by bringing up a 15-year old embezzlement case against another former head of the TRA which was kept quiet by the organization. Along with the bipolar argument, a very interesting strategy ... but this seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the current case.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Historian Pleads Guilty to Thefts from TRA
Wow, sometimes these things just seem to come out of nowhere. Travis comments on a Newsday AP story regarding historian Edward Renehan, Jr., 51, who pleaded guilty last Tuesday to interstate transportation of stolen property. Renehan admitted to stealing letters by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln from the Theodore Roosevelt Association (Oyster Bay, Long Island) while serving as acting director of the association between January 2006 and October 2007.
Renehan tried to sell the letters to a Manhattan gallery (Swann) for $97,000. His lawyer blames the thefts on a Renehan's recently-diagnosed bipolar disorder: "It's similar to getting drunk and doing something you wouldn't do if you were thinking straight," Peter Brill told the press. Brill says Renehan will ask to be spared jail time; he faces up to 30 months in prison plus a $250,000 fine and restitution. Sentencing is set for 21 August.
The author of six books, including The Lion's Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and his Family in Peace and War and the recent Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Renehan reportedly apologized during the plea hearing.
But that's not the end of the story. Writing for Newsday yesterday, Bill Bleyer adds "Besides four letters previously publicized, the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch recovered two books and a letter by Roosevelt that had been consigned to auction houses by Renehan and sold." Renehan's attorney admits the letter was stolen, but claims the books were Renehan's. AND "In a separate case in Nassau County, Renehan has been charged with stealing from the association's Muttontown office a letter by Roosevelt about the death of his son Quentin in World War I. He was also charged with possessing a forged document designed to cover up the theft. When Renehan consigned it to Swann, the auction house raised questions that led to the investigations." He's due back in Nassau County court on 13 July, and Brill told Bleyer he expects that a plea will be agreed upon in the state case as well.
Nassau County DA's spokesman Eric Phillips told the paper 'We are requiring him to plead guilty to the top charge,' grand larceny in the third degree, which is punishable by up to 7 years. 'He would be sentenced federally before he receives his state sentence.'"
Travis writes of the bipolar defense: "As a justification for a single theft, that seems to me only moderately believable. As a justification for multiple thefts and the subsequent attempts to sell the stolen items at a gallery, it seems particularly flimsy. We’ll see how far the defense takes this line."
I agree, especially if the pattern seems to be as long as it is starting to appear. Bizarre, and disturbing.
Renehan tried to sell the letters to a Manhattan gallery (Swann) for $97,000. His lawyer blames the thefts on a Renehan's recently-diagnosed bipolar disorder: "It's similar to getting drunk and doing something you wouldn't do if you were thinking straight," Peter Brill told the press. Brill says Renehan will ask to be spared jail time; he faces up to 30 months in prison plus a $250,000 fine and restitution. Sentencing is set for 21 August.
The author of six books, including The Lion's Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and his Family in Peace and War and the recent Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Renehan reportedly apologized during the plea hearing.
But that's not the end of the story. Writing for Newsday yesterday, Bill Bleyer adds "Besides four letters previously publicized, the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch recovered two books and a letter by Roosevelt that had been consigned to auction houses by Renehan and sold." Renehan's attorney admits the letter was stolen, but claims the books were Renehan's. AND "In a separate case in Nassau County, Renehan has been charged with stealing from the association's Muttontown office a letter by Roosevelt about the death of his son Quentin in World War I. He was also charged with possessing a forged document designed to cover up the theft. When Renehan consigned it to Swann, the auction house raised questions that led to the investigations." He's due back in Nassau County court on 13 July, and Brill told Bleyer he expects that a plea will be agreed upon in the state case as well.
Nassau County DA's spokesman Eric Phillips told the paper 'We are requiring him to plead guilty to the top charge,' grand larceny in the third degree, which is punishable by up to 7 years. 'He would be sentenced federally before he receives his state sentence.'"
Travis writes of the bipolar defense: "As a justification for a single theft, that seems to me only moderately believable. As a justification for multiple thefts and the subsequent attempts to sell the stolen items at a gallery, it seems particularly flimsy. We’ll see how far the defense takes this line."
I agree, especially if the pattern seems to be as long as it is starting to appear. Bizarre, and disturbing.
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