We’ve seen some odd crimes, but stealing rare manuscripts from a library may be the weirdest one we’ve found. Jeffrey Ying, who goes by the aliases Jason Wang, Alan Fujimori, and Austin Chen, is accused of stealing approximately $216,000 worth of rare and historical Chinese manuscripts. He allegedly stole these documents from the UCLA library system.

The Justice Department has announced he will be charged with theft of major artwork. A felony that is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison.

Royce Hall, the University of California, Los Angeles (Satyriconi, Wikimedia Commons)

How To Steal A Rare Manuscript

It’s believed between December 2024 and July 2025, Ying stole several rare manuscripts from the university’s library. Allegedly, he pulled off these heists by renting the manuscripts, taking them home, and returning a dummy copy. Within a few days of each rental, he would travel back to China. Meaning there is a possibility he was trying to sell these on the black market. Though some are theorizing he was trying to return them to their country of origin. We also wouldn’t rule out trying to undo some kind of curse, since this timeline has been wild lately.

When the library noticed the missing documents, they found the books were last checked out by “Alan Fujimori.” Ying supposedly used several aliases to reserve copies of these books since, due to their rarity, they aren’t in regular circulation.

Upon searching his Brentwood hotel room, authorities found “blank manuscripts and paperwork in the style and manner of the books that Ying had checked out from the university.” They also “found pre-made labels known as asset tags associated with the same manuscripts that could be used to create “dummy” books to return to the library in place of the original books.”

After his arrest on Monday, August 4th, police discovered a fraudulent California identification card in the name “Austin Chen.” Two library cards assigned to “Austin Chen” and “Jason Wang” were recovered as well.

Ying is currently in state custody and expected to appear before the United States District Court in Los Angeles in the coming days.

We’ll keep you posted on updates about this case as it develops.