-------- 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]