Air Force Academy – Artifacts in a renowned collection of aviation mementos and literature that were once under light security at the Air Force Academy Library are now under closer watch after a former student was convicted in the theft of pieces worth $12,000.
Former cadet Dustin Rotbart, 19, was sentenced July 19 to six months in a military prison after a court-martial panel determined he stole coins carried in the Apollo moon landings and rare books from the Col. Richard Gimbel Aeronautical Library.
Rotbart, of Ashland, Ore., apparently had little trouble taking the artifacts from the library, academy officials said.
“The cadet acted as though he was reading in the Gimbel Library and proceeded to take the books,” academy officials said.
The academy said the April 8 theft included one of the first literary works focusing on flight: “The Life and Adventure of Peter Wilkins, A Cornish Man,” printed in 1751.
Rotbart’s roommates alerted commanders after they noticed books from the collection in an open backpack as Rotbart was packing to leave the academy over an unrelated disciplinary matter, academy officials said.
The coins and books were returned to the collection unharmed.
Cadets now must be escorted and sign in and out when they enter the climate-controlled area housing the collection.
