Anne Ford, American Libraries; Stolen Pages: On the 20th anniversary of a confounding crime
"Less than two months after the robbery, Allen, Borsuk, Lipka, and Reinhard were arrested and the stolen items recovered undamaged. All four robbers confessed. All pled guilty to six federal charges, among them conspiracy to commit robbery, aiding and abetting the theft of objects of cultural heritage, and interstate transportation of stolen property.
“BJ Gooch’s ordeal had become a cause célèbre among librarians, many of whom wrote letters to the judge arguing against leniency,” wrote Falk in the Vanity Fair article about the case. In the end, Allen, Borsuk, Lipka, and Reinhard each received a sentence of seven years and three months in federal prison with no possibility of parole.
Taking responsibility
All served their sentences and were released in 2012. Allen’s LinkedIn page describes him as a filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter. Borsuk is now a writer and prison-reform advocate. Lipka earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in film from Temple University in Philadelphia and now, according to his social media pages, works as an electrician. Reinhard is a working artist.
In 2018, Borsuk published his account of the crime, American Animals; a companion film of the same name, written and directed by Bart Layton, came out the same year. In the film, the robbers and Gooch appear as themselves...
While the RBMS Security Committee does not issue statements on specific thefts, the section provides guidelines on security, most recently updated in 2023, and hosts regular webinars on the topic. But try as a library might to prevent or prepare for thefts, when a high-profile incident rocks a community, collection access will come into question."
