![]() ![]() He said he couldn’t do it earlier because he checked it out before beginning a three-year prison term for robbery.īeing jailed for absconding with library materials “is an uncommon occurrence, but can happen once in a while,” said Mark Gould of the Chicago-based American Library Association. Enck was released on a $200 bond, requested time-served - and returned the book. ![]() In that case, police were called to the 22-year-old’s apartment on an unrelated disturbance charge, but officers arrested him after finding a past warrant for the study guide. “I was a police officer for 12 years, and while it wasn’t a regular daily thing, we had maybe a couple of these a year,” he said, adding that he didn’t know why Enck’s arrest in October got so much attention. Keller said he didn’t know how many people had been jailed on library-related offenses. If the fine isn’t paid, the municipal court issues a warrant, city spokesman Kevin Keller said. In Copperas Cove, about 70 miles northwest of Austin, a 2002 ordinance mandates a $200 fine for each library item that goes unreturned 20 days after a written notice is sent demanding its return. Other states also call for fines or even arrest warrants in such cases, including Iowa - where an overdue-book offender was jailed for a week - Vermont and Maine. The law, which doesn’t trump stricter community ordinances, mandates up to a $100 fine per offense. Enck declined comment to The Associated Press, but he told the Killeen Daily Herald that he wouldn’t set foot in a library again: “I think I will probably just purchase a book from Amazon.”Ī Texas state law took effect in September that defines the failure to return library books as theft. He was arrested for not returning a GED study guide that he checked out three years ago in the Central Texas community of Copperas Cove. In Texas alone, the issue has cost libraries an estimated $18 million. But such cases aren’t unheard of, and many communities faced with shrinking budgets and rising costs have ordinances calling for fines or even arrest warrants when library property isn’t returned. A Texas man who was arrested for failing to return an overdue library book ignited an online flurry of snarky comments and headlines about the Lone Star State extending its tough-on-crime bravado to books. ![]()
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