[CPProt.net] Men face theft charges in stolen books case

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

May 4, 2005

Men face theft charges in stolen books case

IOWA CITY, Iowa Four men accused of selling stolen textbooks to a college
bookstore in Iowa City face theft charges.

Police say they sold more than 35-thousand dollars worth of stolen books to
Iowa Book in at least 82 transactions in the past two and a-half years.

Two men have been arrested -- Lucas Othmer and Matthew Price, both of Iowa
City. Investigators are still looking for the other two.

University of Iowa Public Safety Director Chuck Green says he doesn't know
where the books came from, but some could have come from students.

The owner of Iowa Book, Pete Vanderhoef, says they try to watch for books
that have been reported stolen. That includes watching for patterns of
people returning large numbers of textbooks.