College Freshman Allegedly Stole Dead Presidents' Letters

Searching through the drawers in a Drew University student's dorm room, FBI agents turned up letters signed by five presidents, some dating back to the 1700s and worth as much as $12,000. They suspect that William Scott—a freshman lacrosse player who made pocket money working at the New Jersey school's archives—brought in big bucks selling the valuable letters to a dealer in the UK. "It is a sad day when a student at one of our nation’s learning institutions pilfers great cultural and historical resources, rather than respects and learns from them," said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in a statement [pdf].

The 18-year-old political science major was hauled off in cuffs in front of his team members and charged yesterday with taking 21-23 letters, hawking some of them off across borders. The stolen set includes correspondences sent to Methodist leaders by Abe Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelet and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, reports the Star Ledger.

The Times says the school only realized the letters were missing when a British antiques dealer contacted them, to consult with library experts about letters that had arrived damaged, due to a poor packaging job. Archivists checked their shelves, and found a number of letters and documents, including the ones named by the dealer, missing. “For Methodists, these are treasures and so we’re hoping to get them back,” said Christopher Anderson, the Methodist librarian at Drew. According to the AP, Scott could go to jail for ten years if convicted.