Police raid book store near U-M
*Hundreds of books may have been stolen from other stores*
Friday, November 30, 2007
BY ART AISNER
*The Ann Arbor News *
Ann Arbor police seized hundreds of books Thursday from a used book
store near the University of Michigan campus as part of an investigation
into $40,000 worth of medical volumes reported stolen from another store
nearby, officials said.
Detectives searched David's Books, 516 E. William St., for about six
hours and seized between 800 and 1,000 books that they believe belonged
to Ulrich's Bookstore and possibly other stores, said Detective Sgt. Jim
Stephenson.
The raid came after a monthlong investigation into what police are
calling a large-scale retail fraud. The inquiry began after Ulrich's
employees discovered the unique medical books were missing during a
routine audit. Detectives learned some of the books were being resold on
the Internet.
With assistance from the department's special investigation unit,
detectives have identified two people believed to be involved in the
book thefts, but they have not yet been charged with any crimes,
Stephenson said.
They are not employees of David's Books, which sells a variety of used
books, and magazines.
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us that needs to be done before we can
determine who is responsible for any criminal activity,'' Stephenson said.
The owners of David's Books, who could not be reached for comment, are
cooperating with police, he said. The store remains open for business.
Stephenson said detectives seized other merchandise that may have been
taken from other bookstores and that they are just beginning the
painstaking process of identifying the contents of dozens of boxes that
practically cover the floor of a large conference room.
"We're encouraging local bookstores to contact us about any recently
stolen property in order to attempt to identify where some of these
books came from,'' he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call detectives Bill Stanford at
734-997-1366 or Greg Jones at 734-994-3288.
Art Aisner can be reached at aaisner@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6823.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-25/1196453517167230.xml&coll=2
No comments:
Post a Comment