Texas business helps recover stolen Book of Mormon

MESA, Arizona — A Texas book dealer has helped authorities recover a rare first-edition copy of the Book of Mormon stolen from a suburban Phoenix bookstore.

A view of a French translation of the Book of Mormon at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints October 23, 2011 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. AFP FILE PHOTO

Police said Wednesday that the unnamed dealer from the Dallas-Fort Worth area allegedly was contacted by Jay Linford about buying some pages of the book May 28. That’s the same day the book was reported stolen from a Mesa store.

The dealer says he paid $7,500 for two pages, but later learned about the theft and contacted police.

Federal authorities found the 48-year-old Linford at a friend’s apartment in Virginia on Tuesday and recovered the book, which is valued at about $40,000. The edition is one of 5,000 printed in 1830.

Police say Linford is being held at a detention facility in Virginia, pending extradition to Arizona. It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney.