Wow. The two men convicted of stealing at least $8 million worth of rare books, parts of books and other artifacts over 20 years from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pa., have been sentenced to several years of house arrest and probation, according to the New York Times.
Gregory Priore, archivist and manager of the William R. Oliver Special Collections Room at the library, which contains 30,000 rare books, maps and plates, was sentenced to three years of house arrest and 12 years of probation. He sold the books, maps and other items to rare book dealer John Schulman, owner of Caliban Book Shop in Pittsburgh, who was sentenced to four years of house arrest and 12 years of probation. He must also pay $55,000 in restitution.
Despite the severity of the crimes, the judge in the case did not send the men to prison because of "concerns about incarcerating nonviolent offenders during the coronavirus pandemic."
Patrick Dowd, board chair of the Carnegie Library, said the thefts "will forever raise doubts about the security of all future charitable donations, particularly to the Carnegie Library," the Times wrote.
In a letter to the court, he wrote, "The damage wrought by John Schulman and Greg Priore is unfathomable. The true depths of their betrayal of trust, their vandalism, destruction of public property and theft from our community is unquantifiable."