A Tulsa bookstore owner helped undercover officers catch a thief with a rare and valuable book written by Benjamin Franklin."Total 'ah and total shock and 'ah at the value of the book and the guy only wanted $3,000 for it and I thought that is such a good steal for me," says Tulsa’s Fine Books owner, Joey Burch.
Turns out the book was a steal.
FOX23’s Abbie Alford reports on the case of the bandit with an eye for books.
At the Fine Books store the owner specializes in owning rare and collectable books such as the complete James Bond set worth $1,200 and the Harvard Collection worth $2,500. However, on Tuesday when a man walked in with a Benjamin Franklin Book worth $27,000 the owner thought it was a fake. By Wednesday Mark Sperry, 34, was arrested for theft.
Benjamin Franklin’s “A Narrative of the Late Massacres” is a description of the killings of innocent peaceful Indians written in 1764. The book is of immense value.
"I've never had a book that expensive before," says Burch. "It would have been in the display case."
It’s a First Edition. A Tulsa book collector had purchased it from Bauman Rare Books in Las Vegas, Nevada but she never received it. Instead, deputies believe Sperry stole the book and immediately tried to sell it.
"Originally he contacted me over the phone and said he had a rare book from 1764 that was a Benjamin Franklin 1st Edition and asked if I would like to take a look at it," says Burch.
When Burch saw the book himself he knew it was a treasure and soon found out it was worth $27,000.
"He was willing to sell it for $3,000 and we were very willing to pay $3,000," says Burch.
The suspected thief even had the letter from Bauman who had accompanied the book. That letter was key in Burch discovering Sperry wasn’t the real owner.
"I don't tolerate anyone stealing from me, I don't tolerate stealing from other people and taking advantage of people in any way. This was a very high dollar book that I wanted to make sure the original buyer was able to get in her possession," says Burch.
So he called the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.
"Our hope was that the bad guy would sell the book to one of our undercover officers," says Tulsa County Drug Task Force Sergeant Dave Roberts. “They were watching a certain vehicle that kept looking like he was acting nervous and he would pull up and leave and pull up and leave and act like he wanted to come in but was indecisive."
Burch couldn’t believe the undercover operation that was swiftly set up inside and outside his store.
"It was very bizarre and it was like being in a movie," says Burch.
Short time later deputies pulled over the ex-con and found a rare children’s book written by Eleanor Roosevelt worth $200 and the Franklin book worth $27,000.
Deputies say when they Sperry was arrested he had stolen mail inside his SUV.
They do not know if Sperry stole the book from the woman’s porch or if he was there when it was delivered.
Sperry is being held on more than $12,000 bond which includes prior warrants for theft.
Deputies also found non-prescribed Morphine in his car.
He is scheduled to be in court on December 2nd.
