[February 09, 2010] Selling books with fake author signatures nets him 33 months Tweet Feb 09, 2010 (Philadelphia Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- For more than six years, Forrest R. Smith III forged the signatures of many famous authors in books and then sold those books at inflated prices on eBay. Smith's scam victimized hundreds of book collectors who thought that they were buying works signed by such literary luminaries as Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut and Toni Morrison. In reality, the books had only been stamped with forged signatures created by Smith. Smith, 48, of Reading, was sentenced yesterday to 33 months behind bars and ordered to make restitution of $120,000 to his victims. U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg ordered that Smith, who had been free on bail, be taken into custody immediately. Goldberg said he had "grave concern" over Smith's mental state in light of two previously documented suicide attempts. Smith, who insisted that he was not a threat to himself since beginning counseling last year, pleaded guilty to wire and mail fraud last May. Before sentencing, Smith apologized to his victims and his family for his "loathsome and criminal actions" but begged for mercy. "Show me mercy not because I deserve it, because I don't," he said, "but because my family will not survive." Smith's tearful plea came on the heels of dramatic testimony by his wife, Beverly, and eldest daughter, Kristen, who said that Smith was the "rock" of their lives. Both said that Smith had not acted out of malice or greed but only to support his family. They begged Goldberg for leniency. But Goldberg said that leniency wasn't warranted, that Smith was capable of supporting his family in a modest way but "took the easy way out" by committing fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dubnoff argued for a guideline sentence of 33 to 41 months; defense attorney Kai Scott had recommended a two-year sentence. Authorities said that Smith carried out his scheme from March 2002 until at least September 2008. The feds said that Smith used two accounts on eBay -- one registered in his name with the screen name "bigdaddy_books" and one registered in his wife's name. Smith used the "bigdaddy_books" account to purchase unsigned books, then forged authors' signatures in them and resold them as "signed" from his wife's account. Authorities said that by representing that the books with the forged signatures had been signed by their authors, Smith could sell them at a much higher price than he would have been able to sell unsigned copies. Smith and the government stipulated that there had been more than 250 victims and that he had netted $120,000 to $200,000 in the scam. Smith was able to carry out his scam, in part, because he had obtained documents containing authentic signatures of each author and had ink-based stamps made for the signatures, the feds said in court documents. He then used those stamps to place the false signatures in the books he sold on eBay, authorities said. To see more of the Philadelphia Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com/dailynews. Copyright (c) 2010, Philadelphia Daily News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]