A man is facing multiple counts of trafficking in stolen property after he allegedly stole rare books and sold them to a book store in Scottsdale for more than $16,000.
According to court documents, Jeffery Williams Grande was a former friend of the victim and had "legal access" to the victim's home. he's accused of stealing rare books from the victim's home between May 2018 and May 2019.
Court documents show the victims noticed some of his rare and valuable books were missing and called a rare bookstore in Scottsdale.
According to the documents, the bookstore owner confirmed Grande had sold four books to the store for $16,500. All of the books sold by Grande matched the books missing from the victim's home.
Police were able to recover the stolen books and images from security cameras "clearly identified" Grande as the seller of the books, according to court documents.
The documents show Grande admitted to stealing the books to police because he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He told police he was just trying to pay bills so he didn't leave them with his wife "when he dies."
