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Columbia Documents Thief Arrested AgainA man convicted last year of stealing $1.3 million in rare documents from Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library was arrested October 1 for allegedly trying to sell more items to a Greenwich, Connecticut, antiques dealer. Daniel Spiegelman offered Basil Panagopulos, owner of Alexander Autographs, materials worth about $100,000, including papers signed by five presidents—Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, and John Quincy Adams—and scientific papers of Thomas Edison, the New York Times reported October 7. The dealer recognized the items and had an employee call the police. Spiegelman was arrested a short time later on larceny, forgery, and other charges. He also faces federal charges of illegally transporting stolen documents across state lines for sale. In April 1998 District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced Spiegelman to five years in prison for the theft, hoping the sentence would send a message to others who threaten “irreplaceable intellectual and cultural resources.” At the time of his arrest he was in a pre-release program and living under federal supervision at a Manhattan halfway house. Posted October 11, 1999. |
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