Couple Caught Stealing and Selling Library Books

An Arizona couple is facing serious felony charges after police say they turned their local public library into a source of merchandise — checking out thousands of dollars worth of books and allegedly selling hundreds of them to a secondhand bookstore.

Ian Bartlett, 36, and Athena Bartlett, 33, of Mesa were arrested Monday at the Mesa Public Library after employees spotted the pair inside and contacted police, according to the Mesa Police Department.

Authorities say the couple was linked to roughly $6,200 worth of books that were checked out from the taxpayer-supported library system and never returned.

Police allege that hundreds of those books were then resold.

The investigation began after Mesa Public Library received a report on May 19 that a man and woman had tried to sell a large number of books to a local secondhand bookstore — with library labels reportedly still attached.

Store employees refused to buy the obviously marked library books, and the pair left, police said.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

After the bookstore alerted library officials, staff traced the books back to an account belonging to Ian Bartlett. That account had already been blocked after approximately $1,565 worth of borrowed books were not returned, according to authorities.

Investigators then discovered another library account had allegedly been opened under Bartlett’s name.

That account had 66 outstanding books, police said, including 19 that investigators recovered from the bookstore.

Detectives also uncovered what they say was a much larger resale operation involving Athena Bartlett.

According to police, she completed five separate transactions at the bookstore between May 7 and May 14 involving a staggering 423 books.

Ian and Athena Bartlett were both booked on charges of theft, a Class 4 felony, and trafficking in stolen property, a Class 2 felony.

The case has highlighted the potential cost of theft from public libraries, where books and other materials are purchased for use by the entire community.

And police believe the full extent of the alleged scheme may still not be known.

Investigators said numerous Mesa Public Library books remain unaccounted for, and detectives are continuing to investigate.

Authorities are now asking anyone who may have unknowingly purchased one of the stolen library books — or currently has one in their possession — to contact the Mesa Police Department so investigators can determine which materials were involved.

The arrests come after library employees and bookstore workers helped piece together the unusual alleged book-trafficking operation, ultimately leading investigators back to the couple.