University of Kentucky police arrest man accused of stealing textbooks

The University of Kentucky Police Department has arrested a man in connection with a case in which textbooks were stolen from multiple Kentucky schools.

Anthony Ryan Shields, 30, of Lexington, was arrested Saturday and charged with third-degree burglary and possession of burglar’s tools after police say they caught him in the act of selling textbooks stolen from Western Kentucky University to a Lexington bookstore. Shields was being held Saturday night in the Fayette County Detention Center.

Textbooks have been stolen recently at UK, WKU, Eastern Kentucky University and Morehead State University, and police at each of those schools worked together to investigate, UK Police Chief Joe Monroe said Saturday.

Acting on information from MSU police, the UK police special operations team had contacted local bookstores to determine where Shields had been selling stolen books.

According to UK police, the investigation is continuing because “evidence recovered is leading investigators to believe that Shields” may have targeted other colleges and universities in the region.

This summer, UK police issued two campus crime bulletins because of burglaries in which textbooks were stolen from Kastle Hall, the Grehan Building and the College of Nursing building.

This story was originally published August 20, 2016 at 9:42 PM with the headline "University of Kentucky police arrest man accused of stealing textbooks."