FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 23, 2008
JAMES LYMAN BRUBAKER PLEADS GUILTY IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Great Falls on June 23, 2008, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, JAMES LYMAN BRUBAKER, a 74-year-old resident of Great Falls, pled guilty to possession and interstate transportation of stolen property. Sentencing is set for September 15, 2008. He is currently detained.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On February 21, 2006, Western Washington University (WWU), Office of Public Safety, began an investigation of malicious mischief and theft at WWU Wilson. The Librarian for the Wilson Library at WWU had observed several governmental reference books over 100 years old to be out of numerical order and missing large sections from the books. The books appeared to have been intact and in order on the shelves a week earlier. Investigation revealed that fold-out maps had been cut out of the books with a sharp instrument. The damaged books were irreplaceable and values are difficult to assign to the damage. After a complete inventory, 108 volumes of governmental books had been vandalized with 648 pages of maps and colored plates missing. The Librarian estimated the replacement cost for these volumes would total $21,600.
A library employee recalled seeing an individual during the week of February 12, 2006, who had been looking through a large stack of the same types of books as the ones damaged. She observed a male in his late fifties or early sixties with short, thin, gray hair, average height and heavy-set; his face was pock-marked and he had beard stubble. This employee walked by the area where the man was reviewing the books for a second time, when the man asked her where he could get a cup of coffee. Later in the day, the man was gone and the books were no longer on the table.
Realizing that the thefts had likely been for re-sale, the Librarian started researching the eBay website and discovered several of the missing pages were listed for sale under the seller name of montanasilver. The Librarian worked out an agreement with investigators to have third parties bid on and purchase two documents which the Librarian recognized as matching items stolen from the WWU library. The items were purchased and sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab, where Questioned Documents examination showed conclusively that the items purchased over eBay were taken from the books which belonged to WWU.
The eBay seller of these documents was BRUBAKER, operating under the eBay name "montanasilver," out of either Belt or Great Falls. The welcome page of the montanasilver eBay store claimed the items for sale, "are part of a personal collection that had been put together for over 50 years." Investigators obtained a current Montana driver's license photo of BRUBAKER, which matched the description of the person of interest in the WWU Library on February 16, 2006. The City of Great Falls provided law enforcement with a listing of three vehicles belonging to BRUBAKER, including a blue 2000 Mercedes ML4 SUV. A check of WWU parking records showed a citation was issued to BRUBAKER'S blue 2000 Mercedes SUV on February 17, 2006, at 10:06 a.m. The vehicle was cited while parked in a WWU parking lot, which is the closest parking to Wilson Library.
A search warrant was obtained and executed at the BRUBAKER residence based on the WWU investigation. Prior to or during the search, BRUBAKER told an officer that although he wanted an attorney before talking with police, he wanted to make it a matter of record that, "Whatever you think you will find ... and, I'm not saying I did anything wrong ... but, whatever you find in this search, my wife ... only helped me ship some items and with the listings and had nothing to do with obtaining the items..." BRUBAKER further uttered spontaneously that it is typical for libraries to clear out inventory and the books to be offered up on open market with evidence of library use still affixed. BRUBAKER further stated that, "I admit I've been to Western Washington University," and that he had been there with a friend from Canada.
Law enforcement discovered parking passes purchased at the WWU parking facility for the dates of February 16 and 17, 2006, and hotel and restaurant receipts that circumstantially placed BRUBAKER in the Bellingham, Washington, area on those dates.
During the search, law enforcement discovered approximately one thousand books of which 832 were suspected of being stolen from libraries and universities. Hundreds of the books were marked with Dewey Decimal stickers (often used in libraries) attached to the spines, as well as bar code stickers, library stamps, and stickers indicating "not to be removed from library," as well as some books that had clearly been "cleaned" to remove evidence of library ownership. More than 100 libraries are represented in the recovered books. Hundreds of maps, lithographs, and serial plates were found in envelopes ready for sale on eBay. Possibly tens of thousands of maps, lithographs and plates were found in plastic containers.
Many of the documents and maps missing from the Western Washington Library were located in the search of BRUBAKER'S home. On December 18, 2007, the items seized during the search were transferred to the custody of the FBI in Great Falls, Montana, pending a more detailed review of the property seized. Approximately 750 of the books containing library markings were catalogued and entered into a database which could then be sorted by library.
During the search, investigators also found the tools used by BRUBAKER to steal the documents and books from the library, and to "clean" them for resale. Investigators found magnets used to de-magnetize books so that they could go through security without setting off an alarm, chemicals and brushes used to remove stamps, codes, and other identifiers from the stolen books, mailers used to fortify and protect the documents and which could be quickly sealed to prevent casual observation or law enforcement observation without a warrant, and cutting tools.
Law enforcement interviewed a long-time colleague who has known BRUBAKER for more than 40 years. He advised that he and BRUBAKER had been together in the Seattle area when BRUBAKER and his wife took 15 to 20 books from an unknown library and stated that BRUBAKER had taken three to four trips into the library and obtained these books. The witness admitted to being present with BRUBAKER and his wife on three occasions when BRUBAKER took library books from libraries in Reno, Nevada, San Francisco, California and the Seattle, Washington area. As stated previously, many of the books are irreplaceable first editions.
Of the 832 books believed to have been stolen by BRUBAKER, 338 books have been confirmed to have been stolen from libraries. Of the apparent 109 victim libraries and universities (and other sources of books), 51 have been confirmed as having been the victim of the thefts. Victim libraries were found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. BRUBAKER also had valuable books from libraries in Calgary, Edmonton, and Lethbridge, all in Alberta, Canada. Victim libraries in Montana included libraries in Belt, Big Timber, Billings, Bozeman, Browning, Butte, Frenchtown, Great Falls, Helena, Miles City, Red Lodge, and Roundup.
Of the 832 volumes, 604 books were published from 1900 to the present, 207 published from 1800-1899; and 21 published from 1749 -1799. To date, 338 of the texts have been determined to have an aggregate value of $89,110. Based upon known values, the calculated total theft loss amount is approximately $220,000. Damage to existing volumes where certain pages were removed by a razor or similar device has not yet been determined.
BRUBAKER faces possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years supervised release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl E. Rostad prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Great Falls Police Department, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
