Smiley has also admitted to taking, during an eight-year period, 97 maps from the New York and Boston public libraries, Chicago’s Newberry Library, Harvard University, and the British Library. He has aided investigators in recovering all but 11, five of which have been lost and six of which have not been returned by private collectors who acquired them.
New York City map dealer Graham Arader characterized the stolen items as “the most important maps imaginable,” according to a June 22 Associated Press report. The earliest date back to the 1500s, some of which are believed to be the first cartographic record of discoveries and settlements by Europeans in America.
“It’s just incredible things of that value are so readily accessible in the libraries,” noted Kimberly Mertz, special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in New Haven, Connecticut. Following Smiley’s arrest in 2005, map libraries reviewed their security procedures.
Smiley could receive up to six years in prison for the federal charge and a fine of up to $1.6 million, as well as up to five years in prison for the state charges. According to his attorney Richard Reeve, Smiley plans to sell his homes to pay a yet-to-be-determined amount in restitution.
Posted June 23, 2006.