[MSN] insider theft. A former curator at the Rockland County Historical Society was arrested Thursday and charged with stealing the society's $60, 000 antique U.S. atlas.

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Surrender in Theft of 1823 Atlas
Associated Press 05.31.07, 3:22 PM ET

 
A former curator at the Rockland County Historical Society was arrested
Thursday and charged with stealing the society's $60,000 antique U.S. atlas.

Rebecca Chen, 50, of Highland Park, N.J., complied with a prearranged
surrender at Clarkstown police headquarters and was arraigned in Town Court
on a charge of second-degree larceny, said Detective Robert Schine.

Police reported last week that the book had been recovered and a suspect
identified, but her name was not made public until Thursday.

Schine said that on April 22, Chen took the 1823 book, "A New American
Atlas," from a storage area at the Historical Society in New City, where she
had worked for several years until last fall.

"She basically just walked out with it," the detective said.

The atlas, published by Henry Tanner, is one of the earliest American
atlases with large maps of the separate states.

Once the theft was noticed, dealers in antiquarian books were notified.
Christopher Lane of the Philadelphia Print Shop called police when he
received an e-mail from Chen about the atlas.

"He was a great help," Schine said.

Police asked Lane to arrange a viewing of the book, and when Chen came to
the shop with it, the Clarkstown detective was there to confront her.

"She seemed a little surprised," Schine said Thursday. Asked whether she
expressed any regret for the theft, he said, "Whenever you get caught, you
regret it."

He said he did not know of any particular motive for the theft.

Chen was currently employed at the William Trent House Museum in Trenton,
N.J., the detective said. She was allowed to surrender because she did not
seem to be a flight risk and arresting her in Philadelphia would have meant
extradition proceedings, he added.

"She cooperated with us and we decided we would let her turn herself in," he
said.

Chen did not have a lawyer in court Thursday and no plea was entered, Schine
said. She was ordered held on $5,000 bail for another court appearance
Monday, by which time a public defender was to be assigned to the case.

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