Book Thief Wanted

He's got no catchy nickname, this 45-year-old Santa Fe man who worked as as security guard at the Palace of Governors but is now being accused of stealing expensive art books in a city full of them.

He's not the "Book Bandito" or "'The Well-Read Thief" or even the "Connoisseur Con." But a poster of Mark Bobchak and a pair of booking photos says it all as you walk through the front door of Collected Works, a bookstore in the 200 block of Galisteo Street in downtown Santa Fe.

And just about everybody in the bookstore business is either looking for him or knows of him, his reputation preceding itself, from Garcia Street Books to the Travelers Market at De Vargas Mall to Collected Works to the New Mexico Museum of Art.

"I'm not saying for certain that this is the man. I just wanted to make that clear," says Dorothy Massey, one of the owners of Collected Works; she put up the wanted poster, which reads "Shoplifter Alert." "But we are taking an inventory of our books, and I can say that there has been a rash of stolen books amounting to thousands of dollars here."

Both Santa Fe police and the bike cops are onto him, Massey claims in her poster, but as of yet no arrests have been made, and Lt. Andrea Dobyns, a spokeswoman for the Santa Fe Police Department, claims she never heard of him before. But that doesn't say much, other than that Bobchak isn't exactly a police priority, which clearly irritates at least a few bookstore owners.

According to the poster, Bobchak has been known to wear a long T-shirt to hide what he steals, and he carries a backpack around, ostensibly shoving stolen books into it before "plying his trade to unsuspected tourists on the Plaza," notes one Collected Works employee who didn't want to give his name.

A quick Google search of Bobchak reveals he once worked at the Palace of the Governors, removing graffiti from one of the walls after it was tagged in 2012. The Santa Fe County jail website records show he's been arrested four times on shoplifting charges in the last seven years.

Rick Palmer, owner of Garcia Street Books, claims Bobchak's alleged thefts are well-known.

"He steals Native American art books," Palmer says matter-of-factly; he's noticed a few items missing from his store but hasn't directly seen Bobchak lift them. "I heard he sells them to galleries because no bookstore will buy anything from him in town, because they know about him."

Palmer, who told Bobchak to get off the premises several months ago, described him as a "pretty funky guy who's not all there," adding, "I'm not sure whether it's drugs or alcohol or what, but I know he's not stealing books because he's a book lover."

Palmer, who's followed the antics of this alleged book thief, says it seems odd that Bobchak has been arrested so many times but doesn't seem to stay too long in jail after he's been busted.

It must be because everything is under $250, he ventures, adding that if cops were to total the number of books stolen, and the cash lost, that maybe they could actually file charges that would put him away for a longer period of time.

Got info? Call the city bike cops at 955-5305.

Santa Fe Reporter