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Baltimore Attorney Steals Criminal Law Textbook from Courthouse?

By Cynthia Hsu, Esq. on June 03, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Baltimore attorney Stanley Needleman is facing the law more than he's arguing it lately. First, the feds raided the criminal lawyer's office and home, finding more than $600,000 in cash. Now, he is accused of stealing a textbook from a courthouse.

Yeah, that's right.

Needleman has been charged with one count of theft of under $100 for the textbook. He allegedly pilfered the legal volume, "Understanding White Collar Crime," from court clerk Bradford Gorney, reports the Baltimore Sun.

Maybe Needleman should have picked up a book called "Understanding Dumb Crime," because his actions were caught by the court security camera. The tapes show that Needleman at first approached Gorney's vacant desk, flipped through the book, walked away... then came back, placing some papers on top of the book and taking it with him, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The book is currently valued at $41. You'd think that with his giant reserves of cash at both his house and his office, Needleman could have afforded to purchase an unused textbook.

Needleman told detectives that he had only picked up the book because it was relevant to his current situation, and that he had no intention of actually stealing the book, reports the Baltimore Sun.

But, he also made no effort to return the book the Gorney before detectives contacted him, according to the Baltimore Sun.

So, what was Needleman trying to accomplish with the book? Was he really trying to research white collar crime via stolen textbook? And if so, why did he steal the textbook in a courtroom where it's no secret that security cameras are present?

Stanley Needleman has certainly gotten some bad press lately. Though, he's only been charged with the relatively small crime of stealing the textbook. No charges have stemmed out of the $600,000 that was seized from his home and office.

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