-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        lessons from a bungled theft
Date:   Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:32:13 -0500
From:   Michael Fry <[log in to unmask]>
Organization:   University of Maryland Libraries
To:     Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>


US Court of Appeals just handed down a ruling in US v Allen, et al., which describes four "college
buddies" and their rather half-witted attempts to steal rare materials from their college library by
brute force and sell them through Christie's auction house.

The defendants pleaded guilty and were convicted, but they appealed their sentences on the grounds
that 1) a pen-type stun gun isn't a dangerous weapon, and 2) they shouldn't be punished for stealing
items that they didn't successfully remove from the building. One of the four defendants also argued
that his sentence should be further reduced because, among other things, "his ideas and suggestions
were routinely rejected during the planning stages."

Aside from the librarian they frightened, zapped with the stun pen (to no real effect), and tied up,
the whole escapade is pretty funny. You can read it at
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/08a0062p-06.pdf.

mf
--
Michael Fry
Map Librarian
Government Documents & Maps
4118 McKeldin Library
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
301.314.1357 | [log in to unmask]