Prosecutors said at least 7,000 textbooks were taken just from LAUSD. However, because the districts lacked any organized system to track books, prosecutors said they did not have a total number of books stolen.
Two librarians were among 13 people indicted in massive scheme to steal thousands of new and used textbooks from four school districts, prosecutors announced Thursday.
A 37-count indictment accuses employees at Los Angeles, Inglewood, Lynwood and Bellflower school districts of stealing thousands of textbooks for a book buyer, who allegedly paid them $200,000 in bribes.
textbooks-smThe investigation began after police working for the Inglewood Unified School District uncovered alleged embezzlement in their district.
Over a two-year period beginning in May 2008, Long Beach book buyer Frederick allegedly paid school employees anywhere from $600 to $47,000 per person to steal textbooks in literature and language arts, economics, physics, anatomy and physiology.
In total, prosecutors allege Frederick, 43, paid out more than $200,000 in bribes to the employees named in the indictment.
Many of the textbooks were then allegedly resold by Frederick to distributors, including Amazon, Bookbyte, and Follett Educational Services in Illinois, prosecutors said.
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