Kevin P. Gildea, a resident of Quincy, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty September 11 to stealing four books that once belonged to President John Quincy Adams from the Adams Stone Library in November 1996.
Two of the stolen books, both bibles, were recovered in January 1997 at a health club where Gildea was a member. One of the bibles was published in 1521 and the other was presented to Adams for securing the freedom of Africans who mutinied aboard the slave ship Amistad in 1839.
The remaining two books—a 1772 English bible and a 1785 textbook about fish—were found at a related health club in March 1998. They were returned to the library, located on the grounds of the Adams National Historic Site in Quincy, the Associated Press reported September 12.
Gildea was sentenced to two years in prison and two years of supervised release.
Posted September 18, 2000.