Thief steals 150 books from Fairfax Co. library
September 21, 2008 - 2:31pm
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=600&sid=1482333

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - Authorities are searching for a thief who took about 150 books from a Fairfax County public library.

According to a police report, the suspect stole the books Sept. 9 from the Fairfax City Regional Library, which is part of the county system.

Library officials wouldn't say how the theft occurred. But police say a library manager said an unknown woman had been seen removing bar codes from books and placing them in a bag.

The books range in value from about $6 to $40 each. The titles cover a variety of subjects such as finance, fashion and parenting.

Fairfax County libraries spokeswoman Mary Mulrenan says the system has never had this many books stolen at one time before.

___

Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com


(Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=600&sid=1482333

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - Authorities are searching for a thief who took about 150 books from a Fairfax County public library.

According to a police report, the suspect stole the books Sept. 9 from the Fairfax City Regional Library, which is part of the county system.

Library officials wouldn't say how the theft occurred. But police say a library manager said an unknown woman had been seen removing bar codes from books and placing them in a bag.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2008 07:37PM by Lurker..

Be on the lookout for a well dressed , wealthy woman with well behaved kids.

I went to return books at that branch over the Labor Day weekend. The 3 return bins in the lower garage were stuffed full and people were setting books all around them. THAT would have been an easier theft than pulling bar codes off books in the library! LOL!

who the hell would steal regular library books? i mean, come on, they are just books... and used books for that matter!


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Maybe it's the perfect crime.

Sell them on eBay or at a local used book store. Nobody would suspect stolen books.

you would suspect it when you see "fairfax county library" stamped on every third page... those books are so covered in stamped markings for the county that it makes them unsellable in my opinion.

Maybe it is a competing librarian.

When they catch whoever did this I hope the judge really throws the book at them!

150 books?
Isn't that about a third of the books at the city library?

Speaks volumes. I hope our community can turn the page on this one... end this sad chapter.

Times must be getting tough, I've never heard of this before.

They give you the books for free! Why steal them? I suppose you are supposed to bring them back, but still.

150 books? Thats a lot. If you have ever checked out the limit of 50, that is 2 large tote bags full, about 50 lbs each. 150 books would fill the back of a station wagon. How does someone not see that?

She could have just checked them out, for FREE. Stoopid.

I really hope she gets caught so we can post her dumb-ass face here.

TheMeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When they catch whoever did this I hope the judge
> really throws the book at them!


lol


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

JB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> She could have just checked them out, for FREE.
> Stoopid.
>
> I really hope she gets caught so we can post her
> dumb-ass face here.

Maybe she was an illegal. Can illegals get library cards?

aren't the library cards green ?

Notice that they had a description of what the woman looks like....that either means that a citizen observed her stealing or one of the library employees saw it and did nothing. Hey, whatevber happened to some one picking up a phone and dialing 911....old lady stuffing all those books in a bag shouldn't be too much of a challenge for Fairfax City PD!

Its not illegal to put books in a bag, since most people carry books around that way. Its not like they provide shopping cars or anything.

Police response time. Even though the police station is 2 blocks away

Lurker. Wrote:
> Maybe she was an illegal. Can illegals get
> library cards?

I was in Pohick library yesterday and there was a family (Indian, I think) that were trying to join. They had no formal ID (including driver's license) and refused to give their years of birth, and they still got library cards. So the answer would appear to be 'yes'

I was cleaning out my deceased pop's house and found five library books I checked out when I was in high school.....1968.

I wonder what the fines will be if I take 'em back?