Man charged in thefts of rare Chinese manuscripts from UCLA library system – San Bernardino Sun

A 38-year-old man is facing a federal charge for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in rare and historical Chinese manuscripts from the UCLA library system, according to court papers.

Jeffrey Ying of Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area was charged with theft of major artwork, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Ying was is in custody.

Ying stole rare books and manuscripts worth about $215,000 from December 2024 to July 2025. He would rent the documents, take them home to the Bay Area for days at a time, then return a dummy manuscript instead of the authentic one, prosecutors allege.

He typically then traveled to and from China within several days of the thefts, authorities said.

Library officials noticed that several rare Chinese manuscripts were missing from the UCLA East Asian Library, and an initial investigation revealed the books were last viewed by a visitor who identified himself as “Alan Fujimori.” Due to the rarity and value of the books, they are not in regular circulation in the library and must be reserved and checked out.

UCLA staff learned that the name Alan Fujimori was associated with similar thefts at UC Berkeley, according to the affidavit.

During the investigation, prosecutors allege, law enforcement was able to ID Ying and searched his Brentwood hotel room and found blank manuscripts and paperwork in the style and manner of the books that Ying had checked out from the university. Investigators also found pre-made labels known as asset tags associated with the same manuscripts that could be used to create “dummy” books to return to the library in place of the originals, the Justice Department said.