Lawyer Who Stole Prints
from UNM Library Arrested in S.C.
A New Mexico lawyer who fled two years ago after being sentenced for cutting dozens of photographic prints out of books in the University of New Mexico/Albuquerque library has been arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Joseph Frontino was convicted in August 2000 and sentenced to four years in prison, followed by five years’ probation, after pleading guilty to three counts of embezzlement. After he failed to turn himself in the following month as arranged, state District Judge Frank Allen Jr. issued a bench warrant for his arrest, and he was placed on the FBI’s fugitive list.
The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported September 24 that Frontino was arrested for traffic violations September 20. As he was being booked, police conducted a National Crime Information Center search and learned he was listed as a fugitive. “We understand he will not be fighting extradition, so we will see him soon,” Sam Thompson, a spokeswoman with the state attorney general’s office, told the September 25 Santa Fe New Mexican.
Frontino sold at least two dozen original Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, and Edward Steichen prints stolen in 1997 from the library’s special collection to photo galleries, saying he had bought them from various print shops 20 years ago. The library estimated it would cost $300,000 to replace the publications.
Posted September 30, 2002.
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