Men plead guilty in thefts of rare books from Carnegie Library

The two men accused of stealing and reselling more than $500,000 worth of rare books, maps and other artifacts from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh reached a plea deal Monday with prosecutors who agreed to drop most of the charges they faced.

Still, the men could be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison and be levied thousands of dollars of fines, as no agreement was made regarding their sentencing.

“The shock, the anger and the hurt we feel that individuals who were close to us, who were trusted by us, who were considered friends and colleagues to many of us at the library, would abuse the faith we had in them for personal gain will be with us for a very long time,” Carnegie Library communications manager Suzanne Thinnes said in a statement.

Gregory Priore, 63, of Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood, was the archivist and manager of the library’s William R. Oliver Special Collections Room from 1992 until April 2017.

The room held a collection of rare books, maps and other items worth millions. Priore was accused of stealing the items from the library and selling them to John Schulman, 56, of Squirrel Hill, who owns the Caliban Bookshop in Oakland.

Among the items that were stolen was a 400-year-old Bible printed in London. It was recovered in April 2019 in the Netherlands as part of the criminal investigation.

Priore pleaded guilty to single felony charges of theft and receiving stolen property. In exchange, prosecutors dropped two other felony theft charges, criminal mischief and conspiracy and a misdemeanor charge of library theft.

He faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison on each of the charges he pleaded guilty to and $50,000 in fines, according to Allegheny County Judge Alexander Bicket.

Schulman pleaded guilty to single felony charges of receiving stolen property, theft by deception and forgery. Schulman had been charged with 20 counts that included nine counts of theft, three counts of deceptive business practices and four counts of conspiracy.

Schulman faces 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine on the receiving stolen property charge, and 7 years in prison and a $15,000 fine on the theft and forgery charges he pleaded guilty to, according to Bicket.

Neither man has a prior criminal record, Bicket said.

Neither Priore nor his attorneys commented after the pleas were accepted by Bicket.

Schulman’s attorneys, Bob DelGreco, Albert Veverka and Ember Holmes, issued a statement that noted their client had no criminal history and that he pleaded guilty to a substantial reduction of charges, “thereby accepting responsibility for his association with books under circumstances whereby he should have known the books had probably been stolen.”

Schulman’s dedication as a bookseller was noted in the statement, which said he regrets the pleas “negatively reflected upon the antiquarian book industry, his family and clients.”

Bicket set sentencing for April 17.

“This was a very serious crime committed over a long period of time by educated and well-known members of the community,” Thinnes said. ”We are hopeful that the sentences given to these two individuals will adequately reflect the significant damage done not only to Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, but to the literary community near and far.”