Cops find thousands of stolen library items in DuPage apartment
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com August 29, 2011 6:44PM
James F. Jackson
Updated: November 30, 2011 12:23AM
A man with an extensive criminal record faces trial for theft, after police reported finding thousands of items in his apartment he apparently stole from area public library districts to sell over the Internet.
James F. Jackson remained Tuesday night in DuPage County Jail in Wheaton on $25,000 bail. He has been charged with library theft, theft of stolen property and theft, all felonies, according to records on file in DuPage County Circuit Court.
Jackson, 43, was arrested Friday morning in his second-floor apartment on the 300 block of Spruce Lane in Glen Ellyn, said Ron Wilke, the Lisle Police Department’s public information officer.
The arrest capped a “four-month investigation involving the theft of numerous items” from the Lisle Public Library, 777 Front St., Wilke said Monday in a prepared statement.
Police obtained a search warrant, which allowed them to enter Jackson’s home and vehicle. Wilke said rare and expensive books, along with digital video discs and other property belonging to the library, “were located within Jackson’s apartment.”
Jackson is accused of stealing the items, as opposed to legally borrowing them using a library card. He allegedly “sold them on an Internet site” Wilke did not identify.
“As a result of the search warrant, several thousand items belonging to local libraries were recovered,” Wilke said. The statement did not identify those libraries or library districts.
The Naperville Public Library - which has its main library near the city’s downtown and branches on South Naper Boulevard and 95th Street - apparently was not targeted by Jackson in the alleged scheme.
“It appears not,” said John Spears, the library’s executive director, when asked Tuesday if any of the facilities had been plundered. “We haven’t noticed any of our more expensive” or rare items missing, he said.
“We have quite a few security measures in place” that are designed to thwart theft, Spears said. Those measures appear to be working, as Spears said theft from all three facilities is down in comparison to previous years.
Court records indicated Jackson has a lengthy arrest and criminal record dating back to 1985 in DuPage County.
He was fined and placed on court supervision in March 1986, after being convicted of a misdemeanor charge of retail theft, court records showed. He received a similar sentence in January 1989, after being found guilty of misdemeanor charges of criminal damage to property in Wheaton, according to records.
Jackson was also convicted of drunken driving in a July 1986 sheriff’s office case, records indicated. He was placed on supervision and fined in that matter.
Records showed he has also been arrested numerous times on traffic-related charges, including 2006 and 2010 stops and convictions for reckless driving in Glen Ellyn.
Jackson is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 6 on the new charges.
