2008 Woodie Awards
Students Caught for Booknapping
Students were arrested and later released after stealing books from the student bookstore.
Claudia Lozano
Issue date: 10/27/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Two Valley College students stole two books and a package, totaling $150 in value, from the student bookstore Wednesday, and not only were there no charges pressed, but the thieves only returned three of the four books.
"The bookstore reported a theft to the sheriff's office and I answered the call," said detective Jeff M. Spelatz, who detained the thieves. "The kids matched the description and turned out to be the suspects who admitted to the crime."
An anonymous eyewitness said, "I had a feeling they wanted to steal the books since they walked in the store and kept looking around, going back and forth between the health and political science sections."
A bookstore clerk became suspicious after offering to help the suspects and discovering that they were unsure of book titles or authors.
"I went to the back of the store to let someone else know what was going on and when I came back I saw one of them put a book in his pants - around his waist - and I looked away" the witness said. "They walked out of the store [through] the customer service area, not through any of the registers and I was asked to follow them and see which direction they headed."
"The bookstore reported a theft to the sheriff's office and I answered the call," said detective Jeff M. Spelatz, who detained the thieves. "The kids matched the description and turned out to be the suspects who admitted to the crime."
An anonymous eyewitness said, "I had a feeling they wanted to steal the books since they walked in the store and kept looking around, going back and forth between the health and political science sections."
A bookstore clerk became suspicious after offering to help the suspects and discovering that they were unsure of book titles or authors.
"I went to the back of the store to let someone else know what was going on and when I came back I saw one of them put a book in his pants - around his waist - and I looked away" the witness said. "They walked out of the store [through] the customer service area, not through any of the registers and I was asked to follow them and see which direction they headed."
