Library employees first noticed missing materials last May and alerted police when they began to suspect Phelps, who frequently requested materials for use in the reading room, the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier reported October 9.
“We’re very vigilant about the security of these materials,” said Library and Publications Bureau Chief Shaner Magalhaes. “So it really did come as a shock that this had happened, especially since this gentleman had every appearance of being an upstanding, professional researcher.”
William Kutmus, Phelps’s attorney, said his client never sold any of the materials. “He would store them in his house and from time to time he would bring them all out and look at them,” he said. Library officials expected all the stolen items to be recovered.
Phelps faces up to 10 years in prison; sentencing is scheduled for November 16.
Posted October 15, 2004.