Stolen Comic Books

In Florida, recently, a man’s rare and valuable collection of comics was stolen. He estimated that his collection is valued at more than $10,000. He took a lot of pride in his collection. He had each comic stored in a clear protective sleeve and stored in acid free cardboard boxes to protect the integrity and value of each one, the proper way of storing them. I learned of this comic book theft after reading an online article from the St. Petersburg Times titled "Prized comic book collection, worth $12,000, is stolen" (www.tampabay.com). Staff writer Erin Sullivan reported on the stolen comics. 

Peter Keenan discovered that his comic collection had been stolen the day after his birthday. He was going to his favorite local comic book shop to buy some new comics. While he was browsing through the shop he saw a lot of comics that were in his own collection. He knew that they must be part of his collection because he had cards taped to the inside of the clear protective sleeves the comics were in that were still in place at the shop. He stored his collection at his ex-girlfriend’s home who lived down the street from him. He called her and asked her to check the closet where the books were kept, and she confirmed that they were gone. The Pasco sheriff’s department told the St. Petersburg Times that 1,500 comics had been stolen.

After the police investigation took place, it was discovered that friends of the ex-girlfriend sold parts of the comic collection to the shop. Of course there are different stories from all parties involved. For example, the man who stole the comics said he had permission to sell them. Another man accused of stealing and selling them said he was paid to do it. Only one of the men has been arrested under theft charges. People are also questioning why Peter Keenan kept the collection at his ex-girlfriend’s home and not his own.  It is still unknown how many comics were stolen because there wasn’t a clear record count of how many there were to start within the collection. Unfortunately, some of the books won’t be returned because the shop owner had already sold a few of them.

Peter Keenan had his comic books stored properly but unfortunately they were unprotected from thieves. He is hoping that he will get most of his collection back. Lessons sometimes have to be learned the hard way, and in this case it’s to store your comics at your own home.

*Original Article Can Be Found at http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1021155.ece