Alleged textbook thief caught

The last suspect in a university book theft ring was arrested, and officials in the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office are ready to prosecute the racketeering ring after more than three years of investigation.

“All of the other defendants have been arrested at some point in time. We opted to wait until the last defendant was arrested until we proceeded,” District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said.

The Aug. 17th arrest was the seventh person prosecutors suspect was involved with a ring that stole books from UNM’s Medical Library, other commercial bookstores — like Sammies’s — and sold the books back to the UNM Bookstore.

“We suspect that there were five people who were the ringleaders,” DA Public Information Officer Pat Davis said. “One worked part time at the Bookstore. He’d get a list together of the most profitable books and pass them onto friends to go steal.”

Since 2007, it is estimated that the thieves stole more $10,000 to $12,000 from libraries in five different states. Besides New Mexico, the regional operation targeted libraries and bookstores in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Nevada, Davis said.

“Instead of trying to prosecute for each book, we had to wait until we arrested each person suspected to be involved because we feel they were an organized crime element,” he said. “They had a sole purpose of conducting an illegal business based off the stealing and selling of
fraudulent textbooks.”

Davis wouldn’t release the suspect’s name, he said, due to pending litigation. However, Davis was UNMPD public information officer during the 2007 investigation.

“The Bookstore helped us with the investigation by providing video tapes showing the suspects stealing and selling books and receipts of transaction on buybacks,” he said.

Melanie Sparks, UNM Bookstore director, said the Bookstore makes sure to track each student’s buybacks with their banner ID number. To avoid further theft, Sparks said each employee is taught during a mandatory customer service training to look out for any suspicious behavior.
“The books were brand new and we could tell some did not come from here and we became suspicious when we would ask students if these were their books,” she said. “You could tell they would feel uncomfortable.”

Sparks said at one instance she contacted UNMPD when a student was obviously flustered.
“Police came and talked to her and asked where she got the books,” Sparks said.

Because Bookstore policy requires a Lobo ID to sell a text book back to the store, the group persuaded unsuspecting UNM students to sell the stolen text books back, Davis said. While most students had no idea they were contributing to illegal activity, one student was fully aware he was selling stolen books. Davis said that student is one of the seven suspects.

“All of the suspects were equally involved at different times,” he said.
With the semester beginning, the bookstore will be busy at all times during the day. UNMPD Spokesman Lt. Robert Haarhues said the time is ripe for thieves to steal books.

“Some kids can’t afford to buy the books, so they might steal,” Haarhues said. “You can steal a $200 book and you can get $60,” he said.