Preliminary hearing set for suspect in letters theft

Associate Circuit Court Judge Gary Kamp set a preliminary hearing date Monday for the man charged with stealing six letters by writer William Faulkner from the Rare Book Room at Southeast Missouri State University's Kent Library.

Robert Hardin Smith, 43, of Jacksonville, Ark., will have a preliminary hearing at 4 p.m. Jan. 3. He is being held on $25,000 bond in the Cape Girardeau County Jail.

Via computer video, Kamp asked Smith, a former public defender, if he understood the charges, Smith asked how many charges were filed against him.

He has been charged with one count of felony stealing.

Smith has prior convictions for stealing historic manuscripts from the University of Kansas and the University of Arkansas in 1996.

He served two years from both sentences -- 15 years on the Arkansas charge and 11 months on the Kansas charge.