Check this out!
A couple in Arizona got nabbed for a clever scheme where they'd steal books from the local library and then turn around and sell them to local used bookstores.
Crime doesn't pay. And these people would know that if they read books instead of stealing them.
Here's ABC News on the library crime:
Ian Bartlett, 36, and Athena Bartlett, 33, checked out $6,200 worth of unreturned library books from Mesa Public Library under two different accounts and resold hundreds of them, the Mesa Police Department said.
The couple was arrested on Monday at Mesa Public Library after library staff observed the pair in the library and notified the police, police said.
They were just checking out books and not returning them.
You can't do that!
The cops showed up and it looked something like this:
More from ABC:
Police had launched an investigation into the incident following a report on Tuesday, May 19, from Mesa Public Library that a male and female had attempted to sell numerous books with library labels still attached to a local secondhand bookstore, police said. Bookstore employees advised the pair they were not able to purchase the library books, after which the two left the business, according to authorities.
After the bookstore shared the incident with Mesa Public Library, library staff determined the books had been checked out by Ian Bartlett, whose library account had been blocked after approximately $1,565 worth of books were not returned, according to police ...
Investigators discovered that a second library account was opened under Ian Bartlett's name, which had 66 outstanding books, 19 of which were recovered at the bookstore, according to police.
Investigators learned that Athena Bartlett had completed five transactions at the bookstore involving 423 books between Thursday, May 7 and Thursday, May 14, authorities said.
The couple were handed felony charges for theft and trafficking stolen property.
When are they ever going to learn that you don't mess with the Mesa Public Library?
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