The day of the heist was to be Thursday, December 16, one of the last days of final examsthe library would be nearly empty. They were 20 steps ahead [of the librarian]. Having told their parents that they were going on a ski trip to West Virginia, that weekend they loaded the loot into Eric's Ford Explorer and took off on the 12-hour drive to New York for their Christie's appointment. As they ran, they stumbled again into Chas, who had returned in another car as promised, just in time to save them and drive Eric to U.K. for his tennis-class exam. Titled A Plan to Fail, it was part of a series he had done on the crime for a local art gallery while out on bond. That night they had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, followed by drinks at the hotel bar, where Warren chummed up to an Iraq veteran, Spencer almost started a brawl after knocking a table full of drinks over, and Eric picked up a middle-aged Brazilian tourist. The next day, they worked off their hangovers by checking out Ground Zero before strolling into the bustle of Chinatown for lunch. Spencer gives me 500 bucks, in my pocket. Spencer was arrested in a simultaneous raid on his dorm room at Transy. The Lexington Police Department's commercial-burglary squad was assigned to the case. He was visibly unnerved, Warren remembers. Bam. This story was recently documented in the feature film American Animals. The first call went out to the National Crime Information Center, alerting law enforcement to be on the lookout for a gray minivan with temporary plates, the description of a vehicle seen screeching away from the library. When Halloran inquired about them, Spencer spoke up and offered to fetch them from the car. Phase 2 involves the actual theft, and begins when Spencer takes his position at an upper-floor window of the nearby athletic center, where he will be on lookout. Returning five minutes later with a rolling red suitcase in tow, Spencer opened it on the conference table. The guys hung out together when they could, with Warren frequently conjuring up fantasiesthrough billowing clouds of marijuana smokeof post-heist life for them in the Mediterranean, complete with sleek catamarans and topless women. Though she couldnt recall much else about her assailants, one odd detail stood out. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. The crew arrived in New York City early Sunday morning. The others spent time in the library, too, taking notes on staff routines and viable escape routes. Thats what we were doing, kind of living this little Matchstick Men, college kind of life.. The meeting ended after 30 minutes, and Ms. Halloran escorted the two out, assuring them that she'd be in touch after conferring with her superiors on the best way forward. Spencer's life story and his practice are indelibly linked, thus the works he has created are a highly personal meditation on the journey Spencer Reinhard experienced. What they would tell me, then, is their version of eventsand the only complete account of the planning, execution, and aftermath of the heist. He scored a joint before checking into a hole-in-the-wall and falling asleep. Afterward, he was to call Eric up to haul the books in two trips to the G.T.A.V., which was to be driven by Chas. . I cant really get into too much specifics, Eric says, but we were doing all kinds of little scams: making fake IDs, making little things here and there. Afterward, they returned to the Hilton for an early night. He scored a joint before checking into a hole-in-the-wall and falling asleep. Because of the expense, only Warren made the trip, touching down at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport on a Saturday morning in early March 2004. We told B.J. Believe me, you havent heard the last of us yet.. The reaction to the plan was generally positiveshortly after Thanksgiving, they moved forward. Now the hard partwe have to steal them. I was nervous. Although the two hadnt really been in contact in the first few months of school, Warren knew that Spencers artistic talents would be an asset. When the four boys were arrested the news was met with disbelief, as none of them had been in any serious trouble before. Mr. Beckman now wanted these books appraised. Though they attended different high schools, both were varsity captains, and both made all-state. On the second-floor landing, Chas, in high-end flannel pajamas and thinking they were being robbed, pulled out a derringer, only to drop the weapon at the last moment. They climbed onto dorm roofs, where they'd stake out the library for hours at a time, marking down the comings and goings of teachers, students, and security personnel. Behind the main building and through three blastproof security doors is the prison visitors' room, where I meet separately with Likpa, Reinhard, and Borsuk for a series of interviews almost a year into their sentence. Even if they did steal the books, for example, how would they ever sell them? (Through his attorney, Allen declined to be interviewed.) He then explains: "And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief. This is my first time on the island, any island for that matter, he said. It had some tennis trivia in there that I wasn't expecting.. For one, its cheaper, and this allowed me to work less and spend more time with my young daughter. American Animals, the 2018 biopic, written and directed by The Tinder Swindlers Bart Layton, is an acclaimed cinematic account of a younger Reinhard, a then Transylvania University junior whose plot to steal one of the rarest of US art history titles naturalist icon John James Audubons 1827 tome Birds of America as well as a first-edition Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin - led to guilty pleas from Reinhard and three chums, who paid the price: seven-year convictions across the board. An American Animals coloring book, as well as original drawings Skip to content Spencer Reinhard Home After Audubon Prison Period Abstract Abstract color series Post prison Abstract About Shop Commissions Contact Menu Home After Audubon Prison Period Eric rented a proper bedroom upstairs, while Spencer moved back into the dorms at Transylvania. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Because this is so much bigger than anything weve done before, Eric says. My son was born in January, so its been a busy time and I plan to take full advantage of the freedom I will have in Jamaica, Reinhard stated. They checked into the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Warren signing in under the nom de guerre Harry Ballsania name backed up with one of their fake Kentucky drivers licensesand paying in cash. They checked into the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Warren signing in under the nom de guerre Harry Ballsania name backed up with one of their fake Kentucky driver's licensesand paying in cash. (Through his attorney, Allen declined to be interviewed.) After prison I took up a casual interest in birds. Shift + Tab to replay. He looked like he was dressed from a thrift store, Halloran told the agents. Eric dropped the books, and he and Warren made a run for it. Because the boys made the highly unusual decision not to accept the prosecutors offer to testify against one another during sentencing in exchange for leniency, they were each sentenced to identical seven-year terms. Theyre one of Hollywoods brightest starsand most troubled actors. The stun guns Warren had ordered never arrived, so he drove around town and returned with a Black Cobra Stun Pen, and had Spencer zap him and Eric to test its knockdown power. So we ate at Pazzos pizza pub. Only cannabis-smoking goalkeeper Warren Lipka . Inside were the books, wrapped in sheets and pillowcases. Still shaken from her ordeal, Gooch, in her 50s, told police that shortly after entering the Rare Book Room with the two men she had been struck on the arm with a Taserlike weapon, her hands and feet were bound with zip ties, and a wool cap was pulled over her eyes. He was still enrolled, but only nominally, and remained on the fringes of campus life. [Warrens] like, Come on up, Eric remembers. Even if we wanted to, they wont let us. Once the boys were inside the library, students stared at the ridiculous old-man disguises. The fourth, Charles Chas Allen II, had been transferred to a federal medical center in Lexington.) The plan is to continue using birds as my subjects but bringing back some of my earlier prison styles to take my work to the next level. Once safely back in Lexington, the two created a Yahoo account and sent off the e-mail in which they claimed to have unspecified rare books in their possession, using the name Terry, as instructed. Wedged in among the other houses on Beaumont Avenue, a quiet residential street near the U.K. campus, is a beaten-down yellow cinder-block bungalow, with two bedrooms on the second floor and two on the first. The L.P.D. Built over old tobacco fields in the 80s, they feature ponds with fountains, cookie-cutter brick Colonial houses, street names like Ironbridge Drive and Turnberry Lane, and regulations authorizing penalties for unkempt yards and tacky lawn Santas. Lifting a technique straight from the film Reservoir Dogs, Warren assigned code names based on color: Mr. Green (Spencer), Mr. Yellow (Warren), and Mr. Black (Eric)as in the film, emotions turned testy when he assigned Mr. But before long they were put to chase once again, this time by two local thugs. In fact, wedged in their backpacks was nearly three-quarters of a million dollars' worth of books and manuscripts: an 1859 first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection ($25,000), an illuminated manuscript from 1425 ($200,000), a set of the two-volume 15th-century horticultural masterpiece entitled Hortus Sanitatis ($450,000), 20 original Audubon pencil drawings ($50,000), and Audubon's A Synopsis of the Birds of North America ($10,000). Among them was the 2002 photo from the Lexington Herald-Leader of Spencer and Warren playing soccer. It was hard for us. Warren was like, Ive talked to these guys. Chas backs up [the van] and almost hits the woman as Eric comes around to the door. Suddenly without Erics mock-ups, software, and equipment, Warren thought of Spencer. The story behind their motiveand how they got caught. I'm expecting when I get up there it's going to be taken care of and I'm just going to start lifting books. They tried to come up with some link the cops could make between them and the theft, but they couldnt. The partnership flourished, with Warren as the face of the operation and Eric in charge of ID production, until the two had an argument over $2,000 that went missing from Erics drawer. A 20-man task force of Lexington police and F.B.I. He was visibly unnerved, Warren remembers. The set was one of fewer than 200 produced. The painting is a kaleidoscope of images, including what appears to be a computer, a cell phone, a bong, the Transylvania library, and loose sheets of notepaper, floating above a desiccated one-eyed young man in a watch cap, kicking back on a beat-up couch with a blue dog on his lap. Spencer Reinhard and Warren Lipka had grown up together in adjacent subdivisions on Lexingtons south sidefully planned residential tracts wedged in between the city and the gradually receding horse country that rings it. By that point Warren, Eric, and Spencer knew for certain they were going down. Warren had run up the side of the hill and frantically ran off. By early November the boys were selling fake IDs at a hundred dollars apiece, and had apparently branched out into more lucrative identity manipulations. Warren had been convinced after spotting a suspicious man loitering near the yellow bungalowwhen he stepped outside, the man disappeared into an unmarked white van with tinted windows and sped off. Gooch agreed to reschedule for 11 the next morning. A member of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group. Eric and Chas dropped Warren and Spencer off around the corner from Christies. It had some tennis trivia in there that I wasnt expecting.. notified all the airports in the area, dispatched officers to surrounding neighborhoods, and called the F.B.I. He took a cab to Dam Square, an old hippie hangout in the center of the city he had read about on the Internet. At 11 the next morning, Chas slipped the G.T.A.V. Us three, we were much thicker than he was.) And what Chas likely didn't know was that, for Warren, Eric, and Spencer, the actual appraisal and sale of the stolen books had become irrelevant to the mission. They stopped talking entirely and disbanded. Because their campuses were only a mile apart, they assumed they would stay close, but as with most freshmen, their assured identities and easy expectations muddied once they hit campus. All four, now 22, children of privilege, products of elite Lexington high schools, are serving seven-year sentences for their parts in the crime. By one oclock that afternoon, the 227-year-old liberal-arts college was swarming with campus police, uniformed Lexington Police, plainclothes detectives, and forensic teams, as well as local news crews covering the developing Transy Book Heist, a crime that would one day be listed among the F.B.I.s all-time most significant art-theft cases. The truth is, but for one big mistake, they probably would have gotten away with it, an L.P.D. Spencer received a commission to paint murals at a local school and kept up his soccer training, Eric started a lawn-care business with his friend Chas Allen, and Warren landed a job at a local day camp. See, we have no choice now but to create something new, someplace else. They simply ignored him, and the four returned to Lexington. The other two would wait around the block in the S.U.V. When summer break began, the three returned home to the subdivisions of South Lexington. We figured, All right, well, now we just got what we thought would be impossible possibly taken care of, Spencer tells me. The actor thanked his fans for all their kind words. At 11 the next morning, Chas slipped the G.T.A.V. 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