Brought the cops in when coworker stole from the library

Once upon a time, in a sprawling government department, I was the librarian. Not the book‑shelving kind—my job was to keep the software (think boxes of 90‑s‑in‑a‑box hard drives, each with a price tag that made my head hurt). We had a treasure trove of AutoCAD licenses that were worth more than a small country’s GDP.

One day, I walked in and found that a whole section of boxes had vanished—about ten of them, each worth several thousand dollars. No one said a word. Because the money was so high‑stakes, I had to call in the cops. The police, bless their hearts, were as clueless as a cat in a fishbowl.

So, I did what every savvy librarian does: I Googled “Missing AutoCAD” and then “eBay.” Turns out, the thief had listed each box on eBay for about $1,000 before the next morning—talk about fast‑track resale. The software itself would’ve been useless without the licenses, but a clever pirate can always find a workaround.

I hit the “Request Seller’s Details” button on eBay (back when it was still in its infancy in Australia), and voila! The thief’s name and address popped up. Sure, I gave them my personal info in return, but hey, that’s how eBay worked back then.

I marched over to the police, told them the thief’s address, and waited by the thief’s desk. The thief appeared at the library opening, begging me not to call the cops and promising to return the boxes. I pointed to the police waiting down the corridor and said, “If you’re going to play the library’s hero, you’re going to need a better plan than that.”

Fast forward: 30 years in a cushy government job, and now the thief is facing federal charges. All for some second‑hand software.

Comments

Some people think stealing from the government is just “borrowing.”
Yeah, because the government’s basically a giant, anonymous, slightly suspicious “borrowed from yourself” account.

I work for the local government after years in academic libraries. I was told, “You can’t get fired except for stealing.”
So I’ve taken that to heart and never touched anything that isn’t in my own pocket.

If I could drain the pension fund Congress uses to get paid for existing after messing us all up, I’d do it. No remorse, no crime.
“Library” belongs to the library, especially if it’s something you can legally share—like a polite email asking for a copy.

So you’re saying you found the thief’s info on eBay, got the police to arrest him in less than 24 hours?
Pretty amazing for the mid‑90s, especially when eBay had just launched in Australia in September 1999.

Might want to double‑check the eBay wiki.
Because nothing says “I’m a librarian” like consulting the Wikipedia entry for the website that launched a generation of black market resale.

TL;DR

A librarian used eBay to catch a coworker who stole AutoCAD boxes. The thief’s 30‑year government career ends, and the library’s software stays safe. The police had never seen a librarian with a “request seller’s details” button in their toolkit.