Thief steals CDs from local libraries, including Saratoga

By Leigh Ann Maze

The staff at the Saratoga Community Library began to worry when 125 CDs worth $2,857 and processing fees weren't returned, and overdue notices mailed to the patron who borrowed them came back as undeliverable. Similar thefts occurred at the Los Gatos and Cupertino libraries.

The suspect used at least two different false identifications to obtain a library card at each of the three libraries. At the Saratoga library, the missing CDs were checked out over a period of about two weeks in September. The person also checked out 104 CDs from the Cupertino library and 75 CDs from the Los Gatos Public Library during the time period of late October and early November.

"This is really a unique situation when you consider the hundreds of thousands of items we check out," said Dolly Barnes, Saratoga community librarian.

The Los Gatos library on Nov. 9 reported the incident to the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, and Cupertino and Saratoga libraries, which are part of the Santa Clara County library system, on Dec. 1 called the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department.

According to Sgt. Joe Waldherr with the Sheriff's Department, deputies investigating the case have one suspect who is thought to be responsible for the thefts at all three libraries. Details of the investigation on Dec. 15 were sent to the District Attorney's Office, which will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to issue a warrant for the suspect's arrest.

The 304 missing CDs, which ranged from Spanish to rock and rap music, are valued at about $5,300. Because of the theft, library officials at Cupertino and Saratoga are re-evaluating their checkout policies and deciding how to put limits on checkouts so that this doesn't happen again.

According to Julie Farnsworth, deputy county librarian, the Saratoga library is training its staff to recognize a false identification card and has programmed its computer system to keep track of potential thefts.

Thief steals over $5,000 worth of cds from local libraries

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