Bookstore buys back own textbooks in hoax

The beginning of a new semester brought in hundreds of students to the UVM Bookstore, but one individual took advantage of the book-buying commotion for personal profit.

            A person who is not a student was caught allegedly stealing books from the first floor of the bookstore and reselling them on the second floor, raking in a profit that could range from a couple hundred dollars to $2,000, according to Jay Menninger, director of the UVM Bookstore.

            "The red flag for us was that the gentleman started to sell a fair number of high-end books all at the same time," Menninger said.

The books were not in the same genre, ranging from electrical engineering to a psychology textbook from the Community College of Vermont (CCV) section, which also tipped off the wholesale buyer, Menninger said.

The seller was making a lot of money on every book, which Menninger called unusual.

"Normally, as most students know, you bring a big stack of hardcover books and a couple have no value," he said.  "That's just the way the market is."

From what the bookstore staff could gather, the suspect was taking the books right off the shelf and walking upstairs in order to resell them, but UVM Police Services are still reviewing the tapes.

"We try to be vigilant during this time of the year," Menninger said. "We want to trust our students and costumers, but unfortunately someone like that is the reason we have to ask people to leave their bags at the front of the store."

The individual was seen twice at the store, and was approached by UVM Police the third time, he said.

"The books he brought in the third time were compared to the beginning inventory, how many we sold that day and the how many were supposed to be on the shelf," Menninger said.  "In each case, we were missing the exact number he had in his pile."

The suspect denied all the charges at the scene, he said.

According to Menninger, UVM Police questioned the suspect who originally said he was selling them for his sister and then changed his story by saying he was selling them for his sister's boyfriend.

The police concluded that he did not have a sister who was a student at UVM or CCV.  The individual refused to give his name, date of birth, Social Security number and could not produce an ID.

The individual was escorted off campus and was requested by authorities to not return.

UVM Police are still investigating for possible charges.

"Due to on-going investigation, I don't have anything to offer… at this time," Officer Matthew Collins said. 

With a number of strangers appearing around campus, such as the man in Tupper Hall who looked in on a female student showering, many students have questioned their safety. 

"The ease at which outsiders can get into secure areas of the school might require a review of current security procedures," first-year Jon Kascenska said.

Menninger said that when events like this happen, the employees have to question how they can secure the products better.

"This does roll downhill," said Menninger. "We have to either spend money to increase security or raise prices to cover those loses. And we don't want to do either."