Jose Roberto Alonzo, a 39-year-old University of Central Florida bookstore employee, stole more than $20,000 worth of textbooks and then sold them to a competing bookstore.
According to the University of Central Florida police department, Alonzo, 39, told UCF police he began stealing textbooks from the university’s Barnes and Noble back in 2009. Alonzo said he would hide a book inside his shirt and leave the store without paying.
UCF police said that Alonzo began “ramping up his effort” in January 2016, when he stole at least 110 books and then selling them to two different off-campus bookstores, College Book and Supply and Textbook Solutions. Alonzo said he earned $24,000 during a 14-month period.
via WKMG:
A manager at CB&S contacted a manager at Barnes and Noble when he realized Alonzo was selling an inordinate amount of textbooks, including two or three copies of the same book, police said.
That manager provided surveillance video of Alonzo in the store and a list of 40 different textbooks he had sold, police said. Those 40 books were valued at $7,944.85.
Police said he sold an additional 70 books, valued at $13,007.43, to Textbook Solutions.
Alonzo was arrested on charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen property.
