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http://www.courant.com/

*Thefts Off The Chart*
<http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-smiley0623.artjun23,0,6585893.story?coll=hc-big-headlines-breaking>
A map dealer admitted Thursday that he stole 97 rare maps worth more
than $3 million from Yale University and some of the nation's most
respected public libraries.

The actual article:


    Thefts Off The Chart

*Pleading Guilty, Dealer Admits To Stealing 97 Rare Maps Worth More Than
$3 Million*
June 23, 2006
By KIM MARTINEAU, Courant Staff Writer

NEW HAVEN -- A map dealer who specialized in early New England maps and
reached the antiquarian map trade's inner circle over his long career
admitted Thursday that he stole 97 rare maps worth more than $3 million
from Yale University and some of the nation's most respected public
libraries.

E. Forbes Smiley III, 50, stood before a federal judge and admitted that
he tore an extremely rare world map from Gerard de Jode's 1578 atlas,
"Speculum Orbis Terrarum," on a trip to Yale's premier rare books
library last year. He waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a charge
of theft of major artwork, a catch-all law used to convict those who
have plundered art and antiquities from American museums and cultural
institutions. He faces up to six years in federal prison when sentenced
this fall.

To read the complete article:
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-smiley0623.artjun23,0,6585893.story?coll=hc-big-headlines-breaking

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Angie Cope
American Geographical Society Library
UW Milwaukee Libraries
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201

http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/AGSL/index.html
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