COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — An Illinois man who stole a 90-year-old copy of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" from a museum said he was "fascinated by it," police said.
Robert Charles LeCompte, 30, of Collinsville, was charged Friday with one count each of burglary and theft, both felonies, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Surveillance footage revealed a man later identified as LeCompte walking out of the Collinsville Historical Museum on Feb. 21 with a special edition of Hitler's book that was printed in Munich in 1927 and presented to Nazi leaders, police said. The book is estimated to be worth at least $3,000 and possibly up to $10,000, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Museum officials did not notice the book was missing until April 4, the Post-Dispatch reported. Police released surveillance photos Wednesday of a suspect later identified as LeCompte.
Tips were called in to police as soon as the photos were put on the department’s Facebook page, Assistant Police Chief Rich Wittenauer said.
On Thursday, a few hours before he was arrested, LeCompte dropped the book off at the museum. “He knew we were looking for him,” Wittenauer said.
LeCompte admitted stealing the book, police said.
“He would only say that he was just ‘fascinated by it,’” Wittenauer told the Post-Dispatch. “He wouldn’t talk about it after that.”
The book had been given to the museum by the family of the late Irving Dilliard, a Collinsville resident who obtained it while an Army officer in Europe during World War II. Dilliard, who died in 2002, was a retired editor of the Post-Dispatch editorial page. He also was a past president of the Illinois State Historical Society.
Museum officials declined comment, the Post-Dispatch reported.
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