Posted on 06/06/2003 8:41:09 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
(1010 WINS) (HAMDEN, Conn.) Investigators working on last month's bombing at Yale University searched the home of a former library worker convicted of stealing rare books and documents from the school, the New Haven Register reported Friday.
Benjamin Johnson pleaded guilty in 2001 to stealing rare books and papers and cutting out signatures from numerous manuscripts that he sold over the Internet.
He was returned to jail Wednesday following a search of his parent's home by federal agents. Authorities would not say what they were looking for but the Register, citing a law enforcement source it did not identify, reported the search was connected to the bombing investigation.
Penn Rhodeen, a lawyer representing Johnson, insisted Johnson had nothing to do with the May 21 bombing, which damaged the building but caused no injuries.
"He did not bomb the Yale Law School," Rhodeen said. "He feels that he has been treated very fairly by Yale University. He bears them no ill will. He does not have anything to hide and is cooperating fully with authorities."
The search came after Johnson met with his parole officer. During the meeting notes about explosives were found in Johnson's backpack, the Register reported.
Johnson's neighbor, Hamden Councilman Eliot Heiman, said police told him a parole officer found something in the man's backpack.
Rhodeen said Johnson is an aspiring writer who carried a notebook in his backpack that contained "exciting passages" from thrillers and other novels.
"Exactly what the words were in the notebook I don't know, but it was nothing to do with Yale," Rhodeen said.
In July, Johnson began serving a 15-month sentence for larceny convictions related to the theft of books and papers from Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which is across the street from Yale Law School.
He moved to a New Haven halfway house in February and was in a transitional supervision program that allowed him to return home with his parents.
Correction officers decided to revoke that privilege.
"I'm not at liberty to say why he was returned," Department of Correction spokeswoman Karen Oien said.
Rhodeen said he hopes he can negotiate Johnson's return to the transitional supervision program for the last two months of the 15-month sentence.
He said his client has not returned to the Yale campus since his arrest, meets regularly with his community enforcement officer, and participates in therapy.
Maybe they aren't to far off.
/sarcasm off/
Not as far as I know.
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