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Alex Cabrero ReportingCopies of early editions of the Book of Mormon that were stolen earlier this week have been found. A Salt Lake book dealer called police after realizing the books he just bought were the books stolen from the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum.
Being in the rare book business., Bret Eborn thought he made one heck of deal.
Bret Eborn: "Yesterday, it was a young lady that came in and had two old Books of Mormon to sell."
Not just old, bt first edition old, which would make a fine addition to his store at the Valley Fair Mall.
Bret Eborn, Eborn Books: "You know, whenever somebody is selling you a rare book, there's a certain amount of...you wonder if it's legitimate."
But since Eborn bought books from her before, he thought nothing of it and paid 11-thousand dollars. He didn't know what he really had until later.
Bret Eborn: "When I got home late last night about 11:00, my wife told me about the story of the stolen books."
Bret says he read more about the books on KSL's website.
Now, those books and others are sitting on Lt. Tony Garcia's desk.
Lt. Tony Garcia, Department of Public Safety: "Anywhere from $800,000 to a million dollars."
Turns out, they're the books stolen from the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum earlier this week -- first edition Books of Mormon worth a lot more than what they sold for.
Bret Eborn: "When people steal books, they look for a place to dump them fast."
Police arrested Robert Lindsay of Magna and expect to make a couple of more arrests, but what's even more shocking to rare book collector is why someone would even steal books like these.
In this close-knit business, it's not like you could ever really sell them.
Dennis Horne, Rare Book Collector: "It shows the thieves didn't really know what they were doing and what they were up against in trying to sell them."
Bret Eborn: "I'm happy the books are back. I'm happy they didn't cash my check."
In all, 13 books were stolen from the museum. Police have been able to recover 11 of them, but again, they're pretty sure they'll make more arrests in this case and just might get the other two books back.
