Arkansas man pleads guilty in theft of letters

Stealing the archived letters of an acclaimed American novelist has garnered a former Arkansas public defender the same courtroom ending some of his former clients received.

Robert Hardin Smith, 43, was sentenced Monday in Jackson by Circuit Judge John Grimm to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing six William Faulkner letters from Southeast Missouri State University's Rare Book Room. He was originally charged Nov. 19.

The letters by Faulkner, a Southern writer who won the Nobel Prize for literature, are part of the university's Brodsky collection, acquired in 1989 from St. Louis collector Louis Daniel Brodsky.

Although a library staff member stayed with him while he examined the items on Sept. 27, Smith was able to steal some of them without her knowledge. He sold them four days later to a Rowlett, Texas, manuscript dealer, who bought them without knowing they were stolen. One letter was subsequently sold to a collector in Portland, Maine, for $1,200. Another was sold to a collector in Oxford, Miss.

University officials learned of the theft after a collector reported seeing one of the letters for sale on eBay, an Internet auction site. The letters, valued at $25,000, were recovered by law enforcement. The investigation was handled by the university's Department of Public Safety.

"They did an excellent job with this investigation," said Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

Detective Sgt. Kenny Mayberry traced the theft backward from the persons selling the letters on the Internet directly to Smith by showing them his picture in a photo lineup and by securing telephone records that proved he visited the Rare Book Room on Sept. 27. Smith used his wife's cell phone to arrange the library visit and even signed the registry as "R. Smith," Swingle said.

"Finally by traveling to Arkansas and interviewing Smith and obtaining a full confession, Kenny Mayberry put together a case that was airtight," Swingle said.

'Confession came easily'

Smith surrendered to officers in Arkansas on Dec. 1 and was extradited to Jackson on Dec. 5.

"The confession came easily," Mayberry said Monday.

On Dec. 24, Swingle charged Smith as a prior and persistent offender, increasing any sentencing possibility from seven to 20 years.

But as part of Smith's plea agreement, Swingle agreed to remove the amendment and recommend the seven-year sentence.

"I felt the seven-year sentence was appropriate under the circumstances," Swingle said. "The letters have been recovered, and this was not a violent crime."

Smith was convicted in 1996 of stealing historic documents from the University of Kansas and the University of Arkansas. He served two years in an Arkansas prison before being paroled in 1999. He surrendered his law license in 1993 after being charged with forgery and writing insufficient checks.

University spokeswoman Ann Hayes said Southeast is satisfied by Smith's sentencing.

"Obviously, the university is pleased that justice has been served," Hayes said. "And we appreciate it was prosecuted in a timely manner. The collection is a tremendous asset to the university, and to have those letters back and make the collection complete is important."

After the letters were discovered missing, the university upgraded security in the Rare Book Room, on Kent Library's main level, Hayes said. Patrons must now phone ahead to request any materials they wish to view. A photocopy of the documents will be made by a staff member, and then patrons can view the copies in the Special Collections and Archive Unit on the library's third floor.

"No one will be able to just show up and ask to see the actual materials," Hayes said.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160