Tennessee Tech police caught a female student looking through a dumpster behind Volpe Library earlier this month in an attempt to attain some free books.
Officer Jeremy Carr responded to a call of someone removing books from the dumpster behind the library on Sept. 2. When Carr arrived on the scene, he located a student in the back of a Putnam County Solid Waste truck that was backed up to a loading dock in the rear of the library, according to the police report.
“[The student] stated that she was walking by when she noticed some books lying on the ground near the truck,” said Carr in the report. “She stated that she picked those books up to put them in the truck when she noticed some books in there that looked interesting to her.”
According to the police report, the student said she believed the books were just being thrown out and did not think she was doing anything wrong. She had separated out about 10 books and said she was going to go inside the library and ask permission before leaving with the books.
The complainant in the case came outside and explained to both Officer Carr and the student that the books were actually to be sold to a company that pays for them by the pound and recycles the material, according to the police report.
Officer Carr said he explained to the student that she could not take items even if they appeared to be thrown out. The report stated the girl was extremely upset about the idea of being accused of stealing.
