Arrest Made After Cincinnati Library Loses Nearly $17K in AV Materials

-- Library Journal, 3/16/2007

Officials at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCHC) are calling it the worst case of theft in library history: 837 children's DVDs and video games worth $17,000. A local woman, Maria T. Daniels, enlisted her four children to open library accounts using false names, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, and then sold the library property to local resale shops. Daniels used 22 aliases, and her children used 70 such aliases. The scheme unraveled after detectives responding to a theft report searched for the children in local schools. Children need not show ID to get a card, and the library sets ten DVDs as a borrowing limit. Library spokeswoman Amy Banister said PLCHC would look at its policies, trying to balance fiscal stewardship with access.