Rare LDS texts, medals recovered

WEST VALLEY CITY — Police have arrested a man in connection with the heist of rare books and medals from the Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum in a caper that targeted early Mormon history. Investigators said Friday they believe they're close to rounding up all the suspects in the theft of artifacts with estimated worth in excess of $1 million.

Items were taken in two separate incidents.

Spread out on Lt. Tony Garcia's desk at the Department of Public Safety Friday were marked evidence bags filled with rare early-Western medals and 11 copies of early Mormon scripture.

"This is it. This is the history. This is the beginning," he said. "Two (volumes) are missing, but I have a good idea we'll recover them soon."

Rare bookseller Bret Eborn, owner of Eborn Books in Valley Fair Mall, tipped off police early Friday morning after buying a couple of the stolen books. A woman approached his bookshop Thursday with two rare copies of the Book of Mormon.

"She either played dumb or was dumb," Eborn said, because the woman appeared not to know she had a first edition Book of Mormon in her hand. It would be worth about $20,000 to a collector — but for the two books, Eborn paid her $11,000 with two checks.

When Eborn got home to Roy, his wife asked if he had heard about the stolen books. Checking the Web site of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, he realized he had purchased stolen books.

By the time he contacted Garcia, it was 1:30 a.m., and he apologized for the early hour.

"You can call me any time with information like that," Garcia told him.

"I'm glad it turned out the way it did," Eborn said Friday. "I was just fortunate they didn't have time to cash that first check."

On Thursday, police recovered a group of medals that were stolen from the museum two and a half weeks ago. They turned up at an antique store in downtown Salt Lake City, Garcia said. A photo lineup led police to a possible suspect, whom they tracked down at a Magna home Friday afternoon.

The valuable books were taken from the DUP museum late Tuesday or early Wednesday, investigators said.

Robert Lindsay, 48, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on investigation of theft and possession of stolen property. Police believe he and the woman were involved in fencing the purloined books.

Eborn said he had dealt with Lindsay before and even had his driver's license on file. Most of the time, Lindsay and the woman came in with books they found at garage sales or at thrift stores, but they had never brought in anything valuable, he said.

Investigators told the Deseret Morning News that they believe as many as four people may have participated in the theft.