Charles Wayne Gray, 60, of Lake Oswego, is accused of selling at least $10,000 worth of library materials online in the past six months, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. The Portland Oregonian reported March 24 that sheriff’s deputies and Lake Oswego police had searched Gray’s home and said they found 700 library books, CDs, and videotapes.
Jim Mannoia, president of Greenville (Ill.) College, led investigators to Gray after observing that he had purchased an Oswego library copy of Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons on Amazon.com.
Gray was taken to Clackamas County Jail on accusations of theft and computer crime and later released, the Oregonian said. Authorities said he had no previous criminal record but the newspaper said he had been desperate for employment for a year before getting the library jobs and had resorted to donning a clown suit and handing out business cards in downtown Portland.
LINCC Manager Joanna Rood said the news was shocking and upsetting and that Gray no longer works for the Clackamas County Library. “It is kind of a betrayal,” she told the newspaper. “Libraries are part of the community. It is the one place where you can go, and the resources are there for everyone.”
Posted March 25, 2005.