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Plea Expected in Yale Map Theft

June 21, 2006 2:06 PM

Ht_smiley_forbes_060621_nrState and federal law enforcement authorities tell ABC News that a prominent art collector is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to stealing an antique map from a library at Yale University.

E. Forbes Smiley III was arrested last year, allegedly with $900,000 worth of maps he was accused of cutting out of historic books at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale.

Authorities say Smiley will enter a plea to one count of theft in federal court and then three counts of theft in state court. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

His case shed light on what authorities said was the sordid side of the rarefied antique map and document world.

Smiley was considered an international authority on map collecting.  Other libraries reported they had found maps missing following visits by Smiley.

June 21, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

User Comments

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Prison...Hogwash I say. A position in the Bush Administration procuring armor for the military would be a far more satisfying result for this fine man.

Posted by: frodaddy | Jun 21, 2006 3:30:43 PM

The guy should have used his computer, and gone to mapquest! Now, because he likes really old maps, not the ones on any computer, he is going to prison. Jeez, I'd get lost using an old map.... How can an antiwue map show interstate highways, current points of interest, the closest MacDonalds restaurant, etc?....

Maybe he'll get computer literate and change his life.

Posted by: John Grazier | Jun 21, 2006 4:42:17 PM

$900.000? Holy mapgrid! were these maps illistrated by Van Gogh? moreover, would they be of less value had they been stolen from books of a state university's library vs. an ivy league giant such as Yale? hmm, perhaps an old inaccurate map from the back of an old King James Bible could yield me a little gas money?

Posted by: John M. | Jun 21, 2006 11:45:28 PM

Does this really have anything to do with a normal person's daily life?

Posted by: Grant Thompson | Jun 22, 2006 11:54:03 AM

"Google Maps is the best"

"True double true."

Posted by: Camby | Jun 23, 2006 2:32:50 PM

And just what has this got to do with
"Brian Ross and the Investigative Team"? Looks like a simple article reporting findings that were made public by someone else...

Posted by: Norm | Sep 29, 2006 8:09:19 AM

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