Cape Cod Library Book Thief Resells Booty

HARWICH — Librarians across Cape Cod are checking their book collections after a Hyannis man was allegedly caught stealing books last week at Brooks Free Library. Arthur Souza, 52, was charged with larceny of library materials valued at more than $250, but police and librarians believe he has stolen from at least four Cape libraries and sold the books to a Chatham antiques dealer who in turn auctioned them on eBay.

Here’s a photo of the perp:

Red flags first went up the weekend before last, when Lucy Loomis, director of Sturgis Library in West Barnstable, received an email from a bookseller in South Carolina. The man had seen a book for sale on eBay, an online auction site, that clearly bore library identification markings.