CARNEGIE LIBRARY RARE BOOK THEFT SENTENCES

The day before Caliban Book Shop owner John Schulman stood before a Common Pleas judge and pleaded guilty to three counts involving the theft and destruction of rare and collectible books from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, he sent an email to supporters declaring his innocence.

In the lengthy message sent on Jan. 12, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sunday, Mr. Schulman, 56, told the recipients that he was pleading guilty to receiving stolen property, theft by deception and forgery — but that "I am innocent of all of these."

He explained that the prosecution had offered him a "huge reduction" from the 20 original counts filed against him, and because of the "expense, time and risk of a trial" that his defense attorneys advised him to take the plea, calling it "in essence, a victory for our side."

Both Mr. Schulman and Gregory Priore, the former sole archivist and manager of the the library's rare book room at the Oakland branch pleaded guilty and will be sentenced by Judge Alexander P. Bicket on Thursday. The advisory guidelines suggest a sentence of nine to 16 months incarceration, and Deputy District Attorney Brian Catanzarite urged the judge to impose prison time since the theft scheme — in which Mr. Priore would remove whole items — or cut out maps and plates from collectible books to give to Mr. Schulman to sell — went on for 25 years and resulted in a loss of more than $8 million.

In his message, Mr. Schulman wrote that, in the days before his plea, there had been evidence discovered that was favorable to him.

He wrote that he had just learned that items that had been stolen but returned to the library had "withdrawn" stamps on them, which he said was "proof that those items were actually legitimately sold to me by the library."

Mr. Schulman did not mention in that email that investigators searching the Caliban warehouse in Wilkinsburg on Aug. 24, 2017, during the initial investigation into the stolen materials, found a Carnegie Library book stamp with the word "withdrawn" on it.

Michael Vinson, a rare book dealer and author in Santa Fe, N.M., who received Mr. Schulman's original email, wondered: If the books were legitimately sold to Mr. Schulman, why did he make the checks for them out to Mr. Priore?

"I have bought hundreds of thousands of books from libraries that were properly deaccessioned," Mr. Vinson said. "Every check I wrote was made out to the library."

To read the complete article, see:
‘I am innocent,' co-defendant in Carnegie Library theft tells supporters (https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2020/06/15/John-Schulman-guilty-plea-Carnegie-Library-books/stories/202006150082)

An Allegheny County judge on Friday ordered home confinement and significant periods of probation for two men accused of stealing more than $8.1 million worth of rare books and artifacts from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Common Pleas Judge Alexander P. Bicket said he would have sentenced former librarian Gregory Priore and John Schulman, owner of Caliban Book Shop in Oakland, to jail had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic.

Police charged the pair with pilfering books and other written material from the library over 25 years, describing it as the largest antique book art theft in the world, the judge said.

He told the pair they betrayed their professions, the library, their families and the citizens of Allegheny County, among others.

"You will have to live that for the rest of your lives," Bicket said. "Without a doubt, were it not for the pandemic the sentence for both of these defendants would be significantly more impactful."

Schulman, 56, of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, previously pleaded guilty to theft, receiving stolen property and forgery. Bicket ordered him to serve concurrent sentences amounting to four years of home confinement with electronic monitoring and 12 years of probation. He must pay $55,731 in restitution and cannot profit from any potential publication or film about the thefts, according to the judge.

Priore, 63, of Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood, previously pleaded guilty to theft and receiving stolen property. The judge ordered him to serve concurrent terms amounting to three years of home confinement with electronic monitoring and 12 years of probation.

Priore, who worked more than 30 years for the library, was archivist and manager of the William R. Oliver Special Collections Room. Police charged him with stealing some of the library's rarest material — including a history book autographed by President Thomas Jefferson and a Bible dating to the 1600s — and selling it to Schulman, who in turn sold it to collectors.

The library discovered the missing items during a 2017 appraisal and fired Priore. The appraisal determined that about 320 items and 16 maps and images from books, atlases and folios were damaged.

Patrick Dowd, chairman of the library's board of trustees, described the losses as irrevocable.

"They (the books) were to be maintained," he said. "They were to be studied. They were to be cherished."

Instead, he added, they were "pillaged for personal gain."

Both Schulman and Priore on Thursday apologized to the City of Pittsburgh, its residents and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

"I'm ashamed of what I did to that room. I'm appalled by my actions," Priore said, adding that he loved the library. "I am deeply sorry for what I've done."

Larry Dziubek adds:

To read the complete article, see:
Men who stole rare books from Carnegie Library sentenced to home confinement (https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/men-who-stole-rare-books-from-carnegie-library-sentenced-to-home-confinement/)

Some other articles, see:
Sentencing for defendants in library theft case begins with apologies (https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2020/06/18/Sentencing-for-defendants-in-library-theft-case-continues-Friday/stories/202006180174)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
CARNEGIE LIBRARY OF PITTSBURGH RARE BOOK THEFTS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n12a07.html)
CARNEGIE RARE BOOK THEFT HEARING SCHEDULED (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n29a26.html)
CARNEGIE LIBRARY RARE BOOK THEFT DEVELOPMENTS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n26a24.html)

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