4/17/98
ATTENTION EDITORS, NEWS DIRECTORS: A headshot of William A. Cracraft provided by the Ohio University Police Department is available on the World Wide Web at: www.ohiou.edu/news/pix/cracraft.jpg.
ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University police have arrested a man suspected of cutting pictures of children from hundreds of books in the university's Alden Library and other university libraries throughout Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
William A. Cracraft Jr., 34, of Nitro, W.Va., was arrested Thursday night and charged with a fourth-degree felony count of vandalism. He was arraigned this morning in Athens Municipal Court and is being held in the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail on $15,000 bond.
A student library employee informed a library staff member after he observed a man cutting pictures from books on the first floor of the library. The staff member then contacted the Ohio University Police Department.
Cracraft was found with a large number of book pictures and pages that had been concealed in his pockets and shoes. A small razor was recovered from his pocket.
Police say they believe Cracraft had been at the library Monday through Thursday nights, cutting pictures from at least 68 books. However, that number is expected to rise as library officials check other books.
Police believe Cracraft may be responsible for similar acts of vandalism at some 21 other universities in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. OUPD is contacting the other universities that may have been affected.
Alden Library employees have found hundreds of books with missing photographs in the last 2 « years. Libraries at Ohio State, Bowling Green, Kent State and Youngstown State universities as well as the University of Akron have reported similar acts of vandalism, many involving the same books. Police suspect information on the books involved may have been disseminated through the Internet.
Ohio University officials first noticed in mid-1995 that photographs in books in the library's Asia collection had been cut out. When library officials borrowed copies of the books from other universities to photocopy the damaged pages, they noticed that many of the pictures depicted young boys. Pictures, some of them of nude children, were cut from books on a variety of subjects, including geography, art, medicine and photojournalism.
Damage to Alden Library books is estimated at about $6,500 and is expected to rise as more books are checked. Some books are first-print editions that can only be repaired, not replaced. The university will seek restitution for the damages, police said.
"Three years, hundreds of books, and thousands of dollars later, we are very hopeful this is the beginning of the end of the problem for us and the other libraries in Ohio and neighboring states," said Salinda Arthur, assistant dean of Ohio University Libraries. "We are very proud of the library staff members whose quick thinking and critical judgment led to the arrest of the accused."
A preliminary hearing for Cracraft is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. April 24 in Athens Municipal Court.
