The books were much heavier than the boys had projected, and the pair could handle only three at a time. It didnt take long to tie in Eric and Chas. In the fall of 2003, Warren left for the University of Kentucky on a full athletic scholarship, eager to take his game to the next level, and with vague plans of getting into politics. Believe me, you havent heard the last of us yet.. They were 20 steps ahead [of the librarian]. Near the boiler he also jerry-rigged a greenhouse for growing marijuana. Nothing panned out until mid-January, when, following a federal subpoena, Yahoo delivered all the data on its servers related to the walter.beckman@yahoo.com address. Because this is so much bigger than anything weve done before, Eric says. By far the most common theory around town was that the heist had been just a frat prank that spun way out of control. The painting is a kaleidoscope of images, including what appears to be a computer, a cell phone, a bong, the Transylvania library, and loose sheets of notepaper, floating above a desiccated one-eyed young man in a watch cap, kicking back on a beat-up couch with a blue dog on his lap. I can't really get into too much specifics, Eric says, but we were doing all kinds of little scams: making fake IDs, making little things here and there. New film American Animals tells the story of one of the most audacious heists in U.S. history when three well off friends Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk and Chas Allen decided to try . Phase 2 ends when the loot is loaded into the G.T.A.V. The press invariably described them as good boys from good familiesupper-middle-class kids afforded every opportunity, the ones with the most to lose. Spencer drives me out to Lexington [Blue Grass Airport] on a Friday. Spencer had underestimated his friend's resolve. Back at Warrens that afternoon, the boys were transfixed by local coverage of the Transy Book Heist.. As far as they could see, there were only two ways out: either getting away with the crime or getting arrested for it. And Eric calls to him. Reinhards works will be exhibited at his residencys final exhibition on May 8, culminating in May 16s big reveal. In between soccer practice, classes, painting, and studying, Spencer drew detailed sketches of the inside of the Special Collections Library and the adjacent Rare Book Room, making several appointments with the Special Collections librarian, Betty Jean Gooch, to scout the premises. Late one Thursday afternoon in mid-February, the two friends bought a bag of weed and drove the 700 miles to Manhattan in Spencer's Acura Legend. Eric had propped the folios on the steps with his foot when the librarian appeared at the top of the stairs, beside herself with rage after finding Gooch hog-tied in the Rare Book Room. If we go in there they're not going to suspect that we stole these. A week later came a terse reply, telling Terry that, if he wanted to sell something, he was going to have to come in person to Amsterdam, as that is where I do business. Both Spencer and Warren were thrilleduntil they realized it would require traveling with a passport. By far the most common theory around town was that the heist had been just a frat prank that spun way out of control. Warren also ordered four stun guns over the Internet. He was visibly unnerved, Warren remembers. I wouldnt trade it for anything., Looking ahead, the artist divulged that he is due to have a show next year in Los Angeles and has much to produce. In between soccer practice, classes, painting, and studying, Spencer drew detailed sketches of the inside of the Special Collections Library and the adjacent Rare Book Room, making several appointments with the Special Collections librarian, Betty Jean Gooch, to scout the premises. His work and practice demonstrates not only the redemptive power of art but the struggle of all artists to articulate and convey their voice and message in an increasingly noisy and distracted world. She agreed. See also . Only cannabis-smoking goalkeeper Warren Lipka . Though they attended different high schools, both were varsity captains, and both made all-state. We will be stronger, better, wiser for going through this together, the three of us. Eric would stay on the main floor while Warren subdued Gooch in the Rare Book Room. Faced with overwhelming evidence, they all eventually confessed. Warren and Eric got out of the G.T.A.V. (Spencer had had to do a rush job on them because his art-history final had run long.) In the weeks following the book heist, law enforcement followed leads at Transy and reviewed countless hours of security footage from the U.K. computer lab, to which a police technician had traced the e-mail from Walter Beckman to Gooch. It Was Catastrophic: Inside Prince Andrews Misguided Bid to Explain Away Epstein, In the wake of Jeffrey Epsteins arrest and apparent suicide, Prince Andrew moved from the fringe of a swirling underage-sex scandal toward its white-hot center. Barry described himself as an older man with a long ponytail and said he'd be wearing a green scarf. On the morning of December 17, 2004, Betty Jean Gooch, a librarian in the Special Collections Library at Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky, was preparing for her 11 o'clock appointment with Walter Beckman, a man she had never met. So we go back to the guy in Lexington and we say, Listen, we want to go somewhere, we want to go out of the country, and we need documentation, Warren explains. On the second-floor landing, Chas, in high-end flannel pajamas and thinking they were being robbed, pulled out a derringer, only to drop the weapon at the last moment. Shift + Tab to replay. Like, they were doing something serious, talking about the heist, going over the plan, and somebody would make a joke. I get the call on the cell phone. For one, its cheaper, and this allowed me to work less and spend more time with my young daughter. They were skeptical, Warren recalls. The investigation of the Transy Book Heist came to an explosive end on the morning of February 11, 2005, as a SWAT unit broke down the front door of the yellow bungalow with a battering ram, blasting stun grenades throughout the building. Even if they did steal the books, for example, how would they ever sell them? On the morning of December 17, 2004, Betty Jean Gooch, a librarian in the Special Collections Library at Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky, was preparing for her 11 oclock appointment with Walter Beckman, a man she had never met. The day of the heist was to be Thursday, December 16, one of the last days of final examsthe library would be nearly empty. Get the latest chatter, from Kensington Palace and beyond, straight to your inbox. Mr. Beckman now wanted these books appraised. He scored a joint before checking into a hole-in-the-wall and falling asleep. The truth is, but for one big mistake, they probably would have gotten away with it, an L.P.D. The author knocks on the doors bearing the darkest symbols, behind which lie guns, ammo, antisemitism, antiabortion dogmaand a belief in the coming civil war. If you want to do something, you should figure out how you are going to do it. Once Warren had pulled the cap over Goochs eyes, the two laid a bedsheet on the ground and began piling on the seven Audubon folios they intended to steal (the four-volume Birds of America plus three volumes from another Audubon series). How the hell would we do this? And he said, I know a guy in New York.. Cops entered the basement, a dank pit reeking of marijuana, and found Warren sprawled out on a mattress. As they took their seats in the conference room, Warren explained that he and Mr. Stephens are the sole representatives of Walter Beckman, whom he described as a very private individual from Boston who had recently inherited several valuable rare books and manuscripts. We figured, All right, well, now we just got what we thought would be impossible . One evening it occurred to Spencer that they had used the Walter Beckman Yahoo account to contact both Christie's and Gooch. He feared being restricted in any way. We're going to need more people, Warren remembers thinking. Eric and Chas dropped Warren and Spencer off around the corner from Christies. The truth is, but for one obvious, big mistakethe trip to Christie'sthey probably would have gotten away with it, a Lexington police detective told me. Like if we ever get caught, were talking about international issues, way past interstate commerce or whatever the hell it is.. They surveyed the offices of the campus police. Spencer assembled his outfit with even greater care. When an agent called, he got a voice-mail recording, This is Spence. Hosted by part of a series on Honesty In high school, Warren, a lanky six-footer with a mop of brown hair, was a popular jock and a class clown who delighted his classmates by bear-hugging his nemesis, the dean of students, at graduation. Thanks for the on my post. I was surprised he didn't.. (The librarian who chased them out of the library did tell police the correct total of four thieves, even though she had seen only three.) Warren was already busily working out the problem, returning for advice to his underworld contact: What if we had some artwork that we wanted to sell? Warren remembers asking him. Now we cant ever go back there. In high school, Warren, a lanky six-footer with a mop of brown hair, was a popular jock and a class clown who delighted his classmates by bear-hugging his nemesis, the dean of students, at graduation. Spencer believed it was an insurmountable problem. In early February 2005, the F.B.I. It was only a tennis final, Eric says, but that final that day was actually harder than I thought it was going to be. He took a cab to Dam Square, an old hippie hangout in the center of the city he had read about on the Internet. The Real Spencer Reinhard : To have this, this need to know what is on the other side of that line, and realizing the only way to actually do that is to cross it, there's never a point in your life after that where you haven't already crossed that line. Still shaken from her ordeal, Gooch, in her 50s, told police that shortly after entering the Rare Book Room with the two men she had been struck on the arm with a Taserlike weapon, her hands and feet were bound with zip ties, and a wool cap was pulled over her eyes. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Phase 2 involves the actual theft, and begins when Spencer takes his position at an upper-floor window of the nearby athletic center, where he will be on lookout. Along the way a stoned Spencer read aloud from the purloined first edition of On the Origin of Species, particularly fascinated by the section on how the ears of domesticated animals have drooped over generations due to the disuse of the muscles of the ear from the animals not being much alarmed by danger.. All these girls I could draw better than when I was in sixth grade.. The minimum-security Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Kentucky, 125 miles from Lexington, houses approximately 1,200 inmates in multi-story cellblocks encircled by concentric layers of razor-topped fencing and fortified guard towers. Although the two hadnt really been in contact in the first few months of school, Warren knew that Spencers artistic talents would be an asset. If not, we were going to get caught and it was going to be a crazy story., And now that we've diverted from that path, we feel liberated, Warren tells me, waving his arms around the room. Chas cursed Warren as an incompetent, and condemned the other two as burnouts, demanding that the three figure out a way to get the books appraised so they could move on to the next phase of the plan. When they arrived on campus in the replacement G.T.A.V., they couldnt find a parking space anywhere near the library. In the fall of 2003, Warren left for the University of Kentucky on a full athletic scholarship, eager to take his game to the next level, and with vague plans of getting into politics. Serving a seven-year prison sentence following his involvement in a notorious heist (portrayed in the film American Animals), Spencer Reinhard was committed to not losing "the best years of his life." He turned to his own art, determined to refine his craft and technique. When not at practice, Warren spent his time smoking pot, watching Comedy Central, and reading German philosophy. A 20-man task force of Lexington police and F.B.I. Even if we wanted to, they won't let us. believing that they had escaped with next to nothing. Spencer drives me out to Lexington [Blue Grass Airport] on a Friday. The plan will continue to grow and mature as the leader goes forward. Dressed for success in a tailored dark-blue suit his parents had bought for special occasions and future job interviews, Warren cultivated the young-conservative look, using a Windsor knot on his red tie and giving his wing tips a last-minute buff. When Warren arrived, he saw a man fitting that description seated with three other men. That was the plan. According to the revised plan, they would ditch the old-man disguises and only Warren and Eric would enter the library. Chas promised to return to pick them up in another car after dropping the minivan off at his moms house. Spencer would communicate with Warren from a cell phone, which Warren would steal from a student in the morning. I spent two years in FCI Ashland before being transferred to Fort Dix, New Jersey. Not what I expected, not what I wanted it to be, Warren says. Spencer elected not to consider his consequent incarceration as the loss of his best years, but rather sought to salvage his fledgling artist career by utilising his time to develop his practice and to consider new methods and media. These peoples perspectives, because they have money, theyre tweaked., In October of his freshman year, Warren quit the U.K. soccer team, forfeiting his scholarship. and having to sign a fucking book. By hitting the ball back into Warren's court, Spencer thought he would keep that thrilling flicker of criminality burning for a bit longer, while fully expecting there to be an insurmountable obstacle somewhere down the road. On the morning of December 16, Warrens carefully scripted plan began to unravel almost immediately. The story behind their motiveand how they got caught. Between studying for his first semesters finals, working out, and painting, Spencer made time to scope out the Special Collections section of the Transy library, reporting back to Warren weeks later that there was zero security other than an old lady librarian named B.J. In a duffel bag by his bed an F.B.I. Gicle print on Hahnemuhle Photo Paper (Matt 210gr) 2021 Limited edition of 25, all prints are signed and numbered. Warren jumped at the opportunity and recruited another adrift freshman, his old high-school soccer teammate Eric Borsuk, as a partner. At first, we wanted to move to the States as quickly as possible, but we began to see the benefits of living in South America. Back at Warren's later that afternoon, the boys were transfixed by local coverage of the Transy Book Heist. 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