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Man Pleads Guilty to Theft of Manuscripts aniel Spiegelman, 33, pleaded guilty last Thursday in Manhattan federal court to stealing manuscript books and documents worth $1.3 million from Columbia's Rare Book and Manuscript Library two years ago. He faces up to 25 years in jail at his sentencing this June.
Spiegelman was arrested and extradited from the Netherlands in 1995 after attempting to sell some of the manuscripts. The materials included illuminated medieval and Arabic manuscripts, presidential papers and historical maps. Nearly all have been recovered and will be returned to the University, said librarian Jean Ashton. Spiegelman, who apparently broke into closed and locked stacks of the rare book library, had never been given access to the collections, which are only open to persons with clear scholarly purpose and credentials.
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