So we go back to the guy in Lexington and we say, Listen, we want to go somewhere, we want to go out of the country, and we need documentation, Warren explains. The three then take the staff-only elevator down to the bottom floor and escape out the west fire exit. onto nearby Fourth Street and careened through traffic before stopping a mile farther on, in front of a predominantly black housing project. We will be stronger, better, wiser for going through this together, the three of us. That night Chas snapped, they say, fearing the Christie's book appraisalthe Jesus bolt holding Warren's entire heist plan togetherwas in danger of falling through. At only $200 a month, the price was right, as Warren was broke after having shut down his and Spencer's fake-ID business and dropping out of U.K. for the semester to focus full-time on the heist. See, we have no choice now but to create something new, someplace else. By one o'clock that afternoon, the 227-year-old liberal-arts college was swarming with campus police, uniformed Lexington Police, plainclothes detectives, and forensic teams, as well as local news. Titled A Plan to Fail, it was part of a series he had done on the crime for a local art gallery while out on bond. When Halloran inquired about them, Spencer spoke up and offered to fetch them from the car. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to a Lexington Catholic alumnus who was making an easy living in identity theft. Spencer drives me out to Lexington [Blue Grass Airport] on a Friday. As a precautionary measure, they left the books in the car. Near the boiler he also jerry-rigged a greenhouse for growing marijuana. The take could be more than $5 million. A uniformed doorman cheerily welcomed both boys into the lobby, where they informed reception that they were there for Mr. Walter Beckman's appointment with Thomas Leckey, Christie's rare-book specialist. Shift + Tab to replay. Chas turned the G.T.A.V. I see Warren and Eric bust out of the back door, Spencer says, describing what he saw unfold from his lookout position. Gooch agreed to reschedule for 11 the next morning. To be such a big part of her life has been a joy. When she asked for contact information, Spencer gave her his cell-phone number. The partnership flourished, with Warren as the face of the operation and Eric in charge of ID production, until the two had an argument over $2,000 that went missing from Erics drawer. As far as they could see, there were only two ways out: either getting away with the crime or getting arrested for it. Eric dropped the books, and he and Warren made a run for it. We did the robbery as a way to escape, Eric says. We had a few pitchers, feeling each other out. On the second-floor landing, Chas, in high-end flannel pajamas and thinking they were being robbed, pulled out a derringer, only to drop the weapon at the last moment. Opposite him there is another young man, fully fleshed and with a neat haircut, resting in a chair, staring into space. But after stewing in the magnitude of the potential dollar amount involved, and once convinced of the ease of the heist, the logic of the appraisal, and the legitimacy of Warrens Amsterdam connections, they say, he threw his lot in with the others. They got security around that? Nonchalantly, very nonchalantly, I mean, just kind of shooting it between us. Wearing a heavy coat, gloves, and a wool cap, Beckman signed the visitors log. They were skeptical, Warren recalls. Nothing panned out until mid-January, when, following a federal subpoena, Yahoo delivered all the data on its servers related to the walter.beckman@yahoo.com address. But after stewing in the magnitude of the potential dollar amount involved, and once convinced of the ease of the heist, the logic of the appraisal, and the legitimacy of Warren's Amsterdam connections, they say, he threw his lot in with the others. One evening it occurred to Spencer that they had used the Walter Beckman Yahoo account to contact both Christies and Gooch. Afraid to Look - Spencer Reinhard Home / Prints / Afraid to Look Afraid to Look $ 789 Full sized print of acrylic on canvas painting. Sign up for The Gleaners morning and evening newsletters. But before long they were put to chase once again, this time by two local thugs. I'm expecting when I get up there it's going to be taken care of and I'm just going to start lifting books. Back at Warren's later that afternoon, the boys were transfixed by local coverage of the Transy Book Heist. According to the news, it appeared that neither Gooch nor anyone else was able to provide the police with an accurate description of the boys. Spencer Reinhard Please send me the price list, I am interested in purchasing an original Reinhard After Audubon 2014 to Present After prison I took up a casual interest in birds. I'd heard about them before, but I didn't know anything about them. Phase 2 involves the actual theft, and begins when Spencer takes his position at an upper-floor window of the nearby athletic center, where he will be on lookout. We told B.J. Chas cursed Warren as an incompetent, and condemned the other two as burnouts, demanding that the three figure out a way to get the books appraised so they could move on to the next phase of the plan. [Warrens] like, Come on up, Eric remembers. The thieves left no fingerprints behind, and there were almost no witnesses. 's computers. Once Warren had pulled the cap over Gooch's eyes, the two laid a bedsheet on the ground and began piling on the seven Audubon folios they intended to steal (the four-volume Birds of America plus three volumes from another Audubon series). Four students stole priceless books from Transylvania University. They also noticed a group of people lingering in the Rare Book Room. Thanks for the on my post. . The meeting initially hit a snag when Barry was put off by the boys' youth. They surveyed the offices of the campus police. In early February 2005, the F.B.I. Hosted by Meanwhile, Eric lined up the G.T.A.V. My son was born in January, so its been a busy time and I plan to take full advantage of the freedom I will have in Jamaica, Reinhard stated. So we get the passport from the dude, plane tickets. It immediately had kind of sparked my imagination, like a fantasy., O.K., so were sitting in the car, smoking weed, Warren recalls, and then Spencer said, I just took a tour in that library, and theres shit sitting there you wouldnt believe. A week later came a terse reply, telling Terry that, if he wanted to sell something, he was going to have to come in person to Amsterdam, as that is where I do business. Both Spencer and Warren were thrilleduntil they realized it would require traveling with a passport. We spoke about his paintings, especially A Plan to Fail. Warren was already busily working out the problem, returning for advice to his underworld contact: What if we had some artwork that we wanted to sell? Warren remembers asking him. For added anonymity, Warren bleached his hair blond that night. He added: Its always nice to be with people that are familiar with the area, and Ive been made to feel very welcome. The others spent time in the library, too, taking notes on staff routines and viable escape routes. from an unsuspecting friend and got his hands on zip ties, a wool cap, electrician's tape, and bedsheets. Slattery was arrested and convicted of one successful and two attempted robberies. A member of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group. The plan will continue to grow and mature as the leader goes forward. Warren was like, Ive talked to these guys. Now the hard partwe have to steal them. I was nervous. Like, they were doing something serious, talking about the heist, going over the plan, and somebody would make a joke. Not what I expected, not what I wanted it to be, Warren says. So I kind of go, That would be pretty crazy, wouldn't it? He said, Yeah, that would be kind of crazy. I then said, You know, why don't you look into it more and we'll go from there? Just like very unofficial.. Among them was the 2002 photo from the Lexington Herald-Leader of Spencer and Warren playing soccer. A week later came a terse reply, telling Terry that, if he wanted to sell something, he was going to have to come in person to Amsterdam, as that is where I do business. Both Spencer and Warren were thrilleduntil they realized it would require traveling with a passport. It didn't take long to tie in Eric and Chas. Believe me, you havent heard the last of us yet.. Because this is so much bigger than anything weve done before, Eric says. As they took their seats in the conference room, Warren explained that he and Mr. Stephens are the sole representatives of Walter Beckman, whom he described as a very private individual from Boston who had recently inherited several valuable rare books and manuscripts. Frightened and alone in an unfriendly neighborhood and weighed down with priceless books, Warren and Eric barreled down the street, frantically trying to hail a police cruiser to rescue them. We live in 10 months of the year in Colombia and spend two in the States. Barry described himself as an older man with a long ponytail and said hed be wearing a green scarf. Chas promised to return to pick them up in another car after dropping the minivan off at his mom's house. Two weeks into his stay, Reinhard, an ardent ornithologist, whose works draw inspiration from late Dutch-American abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, feels that his greatest artistic asset is his versatility. In exchange, Barry slipped him an e-mail address with instructions to sign off any communication with the name Terry. Warren was like, I've talked to these guys. I was in interaction with people from nearly every country in the Americas, he reflected on the time spent between prisons in Kentucky and Texas. According to the revised plan, they would ditch the old-man disguises and only Warren and Eric would enter the library. I'm utterly curious about decision-making | Sharing lessons learned from the thousands of decisions I've studied and made | Founder https://www.resolve.blog. received two additional pieces of evidence from Christies: security-camera footage of the meeting and a cell-phone number the men had left behind. He topped off his new living quarters with the last of his worldly belongings: a large-screen television, a DVD player, and a Sony PlayStation. Quit struggling, B.J., or do you want to feel more pain? she remembered the man saying. 2023 Cond Nast. I developed techniques that no one that I know of has done. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. After a quick powwow in the stacks, the conspirators decided to abort the mission for the time being and retreated to the bungalow. Afterward, he was to call Eric up to haul the books in two trips to the G.T.A.V., which was to be driven by Chas. They said that this set, Birds of America, sold for $12 million. I said, Twelve million dollars, just sitting there? In early 2006, they began serving their sentences in federal prison, with no possibility for parole. Just days before their arrests the three even took in a movie: Oceans 12. We'll all be still young, Warren says. Chas cursed Warren as an incompetent, and condemned the other two as burnouts, demanding that the three figure out a way to get the books appraised so they could move on to the next phase of the plan. Wearing a heavy coat, gloves, and a wool cap, Beckman signed the visitors' log. The minimum-security Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Kentucky, 125 miles from Lexington, houses approximately 1,200 inmates in multi-story cellblocks encircled by concentric layers of razor-topped fencing and fortified guard towers. In the weeks following the book heist, law enforcement followed leads at Transy and reviewed countless hours of security footage from the U.K. computer lab, to which a police technician had traced the e-mail from Walter Beckman to Gooch. The thieves left no fingerprints behind, and there were almost no witnesses. Handwriting can be an important piece of evidence in a criminal investigation. We can do a license, but now we need a passport. So he says, Come see me in a couple of days or a week, but I need money, $2,500. All right, you know, just another thing, O.K., 2,500 bucks. 5 The British Bank Robber Foiled By His Own Handwriting. It gave me an excellent opportunity to learn Spanish. He focused above all on painting, gaining admission into a prestigious Lexington arts program. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Chas backs up [the van] and almost hits the woman as Eric comes around to the door. computers in the Lexington field office. It was during his studies at Transylvania University that Spencer became aware of John James Audubons work, The Birds of America. When Halloran inquired about them, Spencer spoke up and offered to fetch them from the car. Eric would stay on the main floor while Warren subdued Gooch in the Rare Book Room. Though I showed artwork briefly with Ann Tower Gallery, my career as an artist has been limited to private sales and commissions, including contributing a mural to PRHBTN in Lexington in 2018. Between studying for his first semesters finals, working out, and painting, Spencer made time to scope out the Special Collections section of the Transy library, reporting back to Warren weeks later that there was zero security other than an old lady librarian named B.J. In the early evening, they say they smoked some celebratory Kentucky Bluegrass weed they had stashed away for the occasion. I guess when we did that she went upstairs to check on B.J.. into a perfect parking space and watched as Eric and Warren entered the library. The untold story of the Transy Book Heist is one part Ocean's 11, one part Harold & Kumar: four Kentucky college kids who had millions to gain and nothing to lose. So we ate at Pazzo's pizza pub. All Rights Reserved. With each taking one end of the Audubons, they made their way to the staff-only elevator. He was whisked into a squad car. The actor thanked his fans for all their kind words. Spencer had underestimated his friend's resolve. The day of the heist was to be Thursday, December 16, one of the last days of final examsthe library would be nearly empty. During our interview Eric told me, He was like just a weight on us. And one thing led to another and we were just like, Let's put this behind us. And once we get past all of that, we started talking about this plan that he and Spencer have. Eric couldn't get hold of his friend's car, leaving Chas to borrow a Dodge Caravan his mother was fortuitously selling the next day, the boys say. After a brief discussion they chose Chas Allen, a handsome, clean-cut U.K. business major who had started the lawn-care company with Eric the previous summer. Quote tagged! Spencer, meanwhile, was accepted to Transylvania on an arts scholarship, his sights firmly set on a career in graphic design. For footwear he went with clean white sneakers. Bam. opens the door for me and I'm just like, Holy shit. I quickly came up with some fake name and started walking in and I'm like, Oh, shit, this is gonna happen at any moment. So while I'm shutting the doors I look back and Warren took her to the ground. I was surprised he didnt.. But even at that point, it became apparent that Warren and Spencer wouldn't be able to pull it off alone. Eric dropped the books, and he and Warren made a run for it. Spencer gives me 500 bucks, in my pocket. In their senior year the two became local celebrities after a dramatic photo appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader showing Lexington Catholic star goalkeeper Lipka and Tates Creek forward Reinhard battling midair during a playoff game. During a meeting in the basement, Warren convinced the other two that they were going to need a fourth, principally to help haul the nearly 250 pounds in Audubon folios out of the library. notified all the airports in the area, dispatched officers to surrounding neighborhoods, and called the F.B.I. as we left we were going to make an anonymous phone call so they knew she was up here, Eric continues. Phase 1 ends when the G.T.A.V. Yet he did allow and encourage the interpretation of his art as an abrogation of space and time and, above all, history. for a second vehicle at a secret location, which, according to Warren's plan, is used to transport team and loot to temporary resting place. After the heist, since it is certain that the stolen books will be entered into art-theft databases within a week, they have to get the books appraised at Christie's in New York immediately. As a precautionary measure, they left the books in the car. Spencer, feeling increasingly disaffected with school life himself, readily accepted the offer. Although the two hadnt really been in contact in the first few months of school, Warren knew that Spencers artistic talents would be an asset. You know, most people look at that painting as if it was a plan destined to fail, but at the same time, we were planning to fail., In a few years we'll be released. Before, in college, growing up, we were being funneled into this mundane, nickel-and-dime existence. We felt bad., Warren and Eric rode the elevator to the basement, but they couldnt find the fire exit. On the morning of December 16, Warrens carefully scripted plan began to unravel almost immediately. The meeting lasted no more than 15 minutes, but still, it was a turning point because the men explained to Warren a crucial step of selling rare books, stolen or otherwise: appraisal by a legitimate auction house. Warren introduced himself as Mr. Williams. All four were brought to Lexington police headquarters and individually interrogated by F.B.I. [This librarian] doesnt know what were carrying, but shes like, Where did these kids come from? Eric says. In fact, wedged in their backpacks was nearly three-quarters of a million dollars' worth of books and manuscripts: an 1859 first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection ($25,000), an illuminated manuscript from 1425 ($200,000), a set of the two-volume 15th-century horticultural masterpiece entitled Hortus Sanitatis ($450,000), 20 original Audubon pencil drawings ($50,000), and Audubon's A Synopsis of the Birds of North America ($10,000). Its great to be the inspiration for this project., Two weeks into his stay, Reinhard, an ardent ornithologist, whose works draw inspiration from late Dutch-American abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, feels that his greatest artistic asset is his versatility. Honored to share the PRHBTN fest with you - your mural being the main attraction of course. That was the point all along. We figured, All right, well, now we just got what we thought would be impossible possibly taken care of, Spencer tells me. If we go in there theyre not going to suspect that we stole these. The whole operation would have to be completed by 12:30 P.M., as the boys say Chas needed to return the Dodge Caravan to his mother in time for her to sell it, and Spencer and Eric had to get to their final exams in sociology and tennis, respectively. That afternoon they worked their way back uptown, to scope out Christies steel-and-glass headquarters before their Tuesday appointment.
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