One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Woman Gets Probation After Peddling Library Books on Amazon
Photo by Angelo Henry via the LAist Featured Photos pool
A woman in San Diego County is every librarian's worst nightmare: she checked out thousands of books from the library that she re-sold on Amazon.
Maria Nater, 45, of Vista pleaded guilty to felony burglary after checking out more than 2,000 books and DVDs from libraries in Carlsbad, Oceanside and San Diego, according to a local Fox affiliate.
The librarians at Carlsbad were onto her first when they noticed that way too many books on cooking, crafts and animals seemed to be missing. Authorities searched Nater's home and found thousands of books estimated at $5,400. Some had the barcodes ripped off, and some of them were already wrapped and ready to ship.
Nater was ordered to pay $7,600 in restitution and she was sentenced to three years of probation. She was ordered to do 30 days of volunteer work and she might have to take a parenting class, too. For the time being she's not allowed to have accounts on eBay, Amazon or Craigslist and she's not allowed anywhere near a library.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
