Thief who stole old back issues from Florida university gets jailed

The Tallahassee Democrat announced a man who'd stolen comic back issues from the Florida State University 6 years ago will be imprisoned for his crime:

A comic book bandit, accused of stealing and selling thousands of rare comics from Florida State University six years ago, was declared guilty by a judge Feb. 26 and sentenced to prison.

Todd Peak, 43, will serve a year and a half in prison, followed by 10 years on probation, after taking a plea deal that spared him a possible 30-year sentence, according to court records.

He also must pay back nearly $70,000 in restitution to FSU, among others. [...]

Peak, a former security guard at FSU's library, was arrested in 2020 on grand theft and related charges after more than 5,000 comics disappeared from a collection in FSU’s Special Collections & Archives in Strozier Library.

He purloined from a rare collection predominantly from the 1950s through the 1970s. Publications include those by Marvel Comics, DC Comics, underground publishers, foreign language titles and pulp magazines.

Police said Peak trafficked the comics in online forums and in the backroom of a Crawfordville comics shop where he sold the stolen items.

During the investigation, a small sample of 38 comics were found in the library, but thousands were still missing.

WCTV also notes:

Library staff first discovered the theft in February 2021. The Ervin Collection contains more than 4,000 comic books from various publishers spanning from the 1950s through the 1970s. FSU notified the public about the theft in September 2021. That’s when a comic book dealer came forward and raised suspicions about Peak, according to arrest records.

Peak was one of only four people at Strozier with a key to the library’s Special Collections area, which is in the sub-basement of the building behind a padlocked fence.

I think this is another reason why back issues should probably be kept more at museums than libraries, though as I fully realize, even museums are not completely safe from theft, and note that the felon betrayed the trust given to him with the keys to the library storage. This makes another case where somebody should be ashamed of only seeing dollar signs in old back issues, but not the value of reading. Let's hope this Peak takes the time to think over his offenses while behind bars.