A new way to recycle textbooks

The alleged great book heist of Thousand Oaks began when Sage Publications of Newbury Park put unwanted textbooks into a locked recycling bin; they were to be picked up by a company that paid Sage by weight to recycle the paper.

According to police, a Simi Valley man and his wife took the textbooks out of the bin for a period of at least 18 months and sold them online at a discount for a 100 percent profit.

Last week Jose Hernandez, 46, and Risa Hernandez, 38, were arrested on charges of grand theft and receiving stolen property. They allegedly had 23,700 stolen books in their possession.

"It took us two days to catalog all the books," Detective Eric Buschow said.

Sage Publications routinely disposes of 7,000 books at a time if there is a surplus of one edition and a new edition is coming out, or if there is an update on the cover or some defect, Buschow said.

Each textbook would sell for about $100 new, but could be sold used online for about $40, he said.

—Nancy Needham