Mount Pleasant graduate student Roger Sachar faces felony charges for allegedly selling two library books by Sen. John Kerry on eBay for about $5,000.

The 25-year-old man is accused of not returning books owned by Michigan State University through CMU's interlibrary loan program last spring, which have been overdue for months, Charles V. Park Library officials said Wednesday.

"This is the first time in my eight years that this has ever happened. It's very surprising," said Patricia Barbour, interlibrary loan coordinator.

Sachar faces charges for larceny by conversion, a five-year felony, for selling the two valuable books on eBay, said Detective Sgt. Jeff Pickler of CMU Police.

"I think what you have here is that the books hadn't been returned and the books are worth more today than when they were checked out," Pickler said. "It's because of the high value of the property that had really changed everything."

Pickler said the two books were valuable editions of the Democratic presidential candidate's "The New Soldier."

CMU Police determined the unreturned books were sold, valued at $2,500 each, after obtaining eBay records, he said.

Isabella County Assistant Prosecutor Roy Kranz said the books value are similar to those of collectible baseball cards.

Kranz said he met briefly with Sachar's lawyer Gordon Bloem in a preliminary conference Thursday morning to discuss a plea bargain.

"I guess you can say we made an offer and his attorney is considering it," he said.

Kranz said the felony charge is unusual, but not vastly different from larceny cases he's handled in prior court settlements.

Sachar was arrested and arraigned last week Friday and was released on $10,000 personal recognizance bond, Pickler said.

CMU Police received the complaint from the university's interlibrary loan program in Park Library on Oct. 14.

Dean of Libraries Thomas Moore said the stolen loaned books may prompt some security measures for the university's interlibrary loan program.

"We care about the security of our materials because of the fact that we are a service for the CMU community," he said. "Sometimes challenges like this come up."

Moore said about 30,000 borrowers use the interlibrary loan program every year. Books can be loaned from university libraries statewide through the interlibrary program.

Interlibrary loan requests will be monitored frequently, Barbour said. She said the recent book scam is probably a one-time occurrence.

"Hopefully nobody else will pick up on doing this type of thing, but we will be watching the requests a little closer and the timeline of those requests," she said. "This is a little disappointing for us because we offer this service - we don't charge students."

A preliminary examination is scheduled at 8:15 a.m. Thursday for a settlement conference at the Isabella County Court.

Sachar addresses situation

Sachar, who didn't see the 2004 article until June 2006, said in a June 12 phone interview he believed the 2004 story involved "erroneous reporting" and incorrect police statistics.

He argued the books were selling at around $450 on ebay at the time. He said he believed the police didn't do an accurate job in coming up with the $2,500 figure.

Sachar said he later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor larceny by conversion for less than $1,000, as to avoid further court proceedings because he was scheduled to move away for law school the summer of 2005.

"It happened after election day, when John Kerry didn' matter aymore," he said.

Sachar said he did some community service, as well as pay the library for the books.

"Because of law school, I pleaded out to the misdemeanor," he said.