Book Thief Swallows Rare Book!
(San Anselmo, Ca.) An alleged book thief was due to be arraigned in Marin County Superior court today on charges of Grand Theft, after police discovered a stolen rare book in his stomach.
The Heldfond Book Gallery,Ltd. a Rare Bookstore in San Anselmo, reported the theft of an important First Edition to authorities upon discovering the book missing from their shelves three weeks ago. The bookstore staff was able to provide police with a full description of a man who had been handling the volume shortly before it went missing. Police discovered the suspect at a Tea Bar during a sweep of the surrounding area.
” We found him at the Eco Green Zen Calm cafe,” said San Anselmo Sgt. Gill Favor.” The guy fit the description we’d been given. He was curled up in a booth, complaining of severe cramps.”
Paramedics were called and the suspect was removed to Marin General Emergency, where an x-ray was taken in order to determine the cause of the man’s abdominal distress. According to ER Physician, Dr. Leo McCoy, what happened next was a medical horrorshow.” Nearly the whole ER staff was standing there, looking and this X-ray with their jaws down to their chests. We’ve seen many different and weird things wind up in people’s stomachs over the years but this was a real shocker.We took him to the O.R. immediately and sliced that puppy outa there.”
The alleged book thief has been identified as John W. Booth, an unemployed actor from San Francisco. According to Doctors, he has recovered sufficiently to appear at his arraignment.
” The swift response by the SAPD is to be commended ,”according to Heldfond Book Gallery Manager, Becky Thatcher. ” We were sure this fellow had taken the book. He’d been acting very strange. The only thing that puzzled us was how he got it out of the store. He was dressed in just a wife-beater tee and spandex bike shorts and there were at least two staff members keeping an eye on him while he was holding the book. We certainly never imagined he would swallow the thing, much less with no one seeing him do it ! This gentleman is the Houdini of book thieves.”
The pilfered First Edition, valued by the bookstore at $5500.00 was H.G. Well’s classic – The Invisible Man.
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