Jeffrey Ying (aka “Jason Wang,” “Alan Fujimori,” and “Austin Chen”) of Fremont has been charged in a federal criminal complaint with stealing approximately US$216,000 worth of rare and historical Chinese manuscripts from UCLA’s library system.
Ying is charged with theft of major artwork, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison.
Ying, who is in state custody, is expected to make his initial appearance in US District Court in Los Angeles in the coming days.
From Dec 2024 to July 2025, Ying stole the rare manuscripts from UCLA’s library. Ying rented the manuscripts, brought them home for days at a time, then returned a dummy manuscript instead of the authentic one. He typically then traveled to and from China within several days of the thefts.
The library noticed that several rare Chinese manuscripts — two of which were valued at ~$70,000 and ~$63,000 respectively — were missing, 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.
Law enforcement searched Ying’s 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. Law enforcement 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 original books.
Upon Ying’s arrest by UCLA police on Aug 4, they found a fraudulent California identification card in the name of “Austin Chen” along with two library cards in the names of “Austin Chen” and “Jason Wang.”
The name "Alan Fujimori" turned out to be associated with a known book thief who used a similar scheme at UC Berkeley.
And in Oct and Dec last year, a man calling himself Jason Wang requested to check out six rare Chinese books from the university's library. Again, the library staff discovered afterward that the books had been replaced with worthless dummies when they were returned.
However, when a man calling himself Austin Chen sought to reserve and review eight rare Chinese books earlier this month, the library staff had gotten suspicious and started to compare the identities of Fujimori, Wang and Chen. They discovered it was the same individual.
The police found a fake California ID on him in the name of Austin Chen, as well as two library cards in the names of Austin Chen and Jason Wang. They also found a keycard for a room at a nearby hotel. When police searched the room, they found materials for making the dummy books and fake labels.
The stolen manuscripts reportedly include 唐詩品彙 (tang shi pin hui), published in 1393 and valued at US$69,677, as well as 集古印譜 (ji gu yin pu), published in 1575 and valued at US$62,709.
justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/a
courthousenews.com/california-man
