Anyone who has ever purchased textbooks know how expensive they can be. In college I always bought used textbooks. I never would have even considered stealing them.

Two librarians were among 13 people indicted in massive scheme to steal thousands of new and used textbooks from four school districts in Los Angeles, California.

A 37-count indictment accuses employees at Los Angeles, Inglewood, Lynwood and Bellflower school districts of stealing thousands of textbooks for a book buyer, who allegedly paid them $200,000 in bribes.

Beginning in May 2008 and continuing for more than two years, Long Beach book buyer James Frederick paid school employees anywhere from $600 to $47,000 per person to steal textbooks in literature and language arts, economics, physics, anatomy and physiology.

The 43-year-old Frederick paid out more than $200,000 in bribes to the employees named in the indictment.

Many of the textbooks were then resold to distributors, including Amazon, Bookbyte, and Follett Educational Services.

In some cases, investigators discovered that books stolen from the districts were resold to the same districts.

In all, more than 7,000 textbooks were taken just from LAUSD.

The school employees were charged with one felony count each of embezzlement and accepting a bribe.

Frederick was charged with 12 counts of embezzlement and 13 counts of offering a bribe.

Among those accused of accepting bribes were:

Other thieves ranged in age from 37 to 60. I hope these thieves get some prison time and are mandated to a 24 hour computerized theft class.