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Man Pleads Guilty in Book Mutilation

A trail of books with photos of nude boys razored out apparently ended when William Cracraft, a 35-year-old man from Nitro, West Virginia, pleaded guilty in early December to felony vandalism and pandering obscenity involving children.

After his April 1998 arrest, Cracraft admitted to cutting hundreds of books over the last four years at 20 universities in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

Library officials at Bowling Green State University told the Toledo Blade December 17 that Cracraft's crimes went undetected for so long because he hit obscure texts that were used infrequently. Although Bowling Green officials first found damaged books in June 1994, they didn't discern a statewide pattern until October 1997, when they tried to reconstruct damaged pages from books borrowed from other universities.

A second pandering charge was dismissed. Each charge has a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison. Sentencing is expected in mid-January.

Posted December 28, 1998.

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