Fremont Man Sentenced Over Manuscript Theft

Jeffrey Ying, a 39-year-old man from Fremont, California, was sentenced on July 8 to 12 months and one day in federal prison for stealing rare and historical Chinese manuscripts from the UCLA library system, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. U.S. District Judge John F. Walter imposed the sentence. Federal prosecutors said restitution will be set at a later date. Ying pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of theft of major artwork, the Justice Department said. At his plea hearing, prosecutors said, he admitted that from December 2024 to July 2025 he checked out rare manuscripts, took them home for days, and returned dummy versions in place of the originals. The release said he often traveled to and from China within days of the thefts. (justice.gov) ### How did prosecutors say the theft worked? The Justice Department said the books were not part of the library’s regular circulation because of their rarity and value. Instead, they had to be reserved and checked out, a process prosecutors said Ying used repeatedly while posing under other names. (justice.gov) At the guilty plea hearing, Ying admitted he brought the manuscripts home and replaced them with dummy copies before returning them, according to the sentencing release. Prosecutors said the conduct covered several months, beginning in December 2024 and continuing into July 2025. ### What tipped off the library and investigators? (justice.gov) UCLA’s library system noticed that several rare Chinese manuscripts were missing, the Justice Department said. An initial investigation found the books had last been viewed by a visitor using the name “Alan Fujimori,” one of several aliases authorities linked to Ying. (justice.gov) An August 2025 charging release said law enforcement later searched Ying’s hotel room in Brentwood and found blank manuscripts and paperwork matching the style of the books he had checked out. Investigators also found pre-made labels, or asset tags, associated with the same manuscripts, prosecutors said, which they said could be used to create dummy books for return to the library. (justice.gov) ### Which manuscript was tied to the federal charge? The Justice Department said the felony count to which Ying pleaded guilty related to his December 2024 theft of a 17th-century manuscript from China’s Qing dynasty. In the earlier charging announcement, prosecutors said the stolen manuscripts were worth about $216,000. (justice.gov) Federal authorities also said that when Ying was arrested in August 2025, officers found a fraudulent California identification card in the name “Austin Chen” and two library cards bearing the names “Austin Chen” and “Jason Wang.” Prosecutors identified “Jason Wang,” “Alan Fujimori” and “Austin Chen” as aliases used by Ying. (justice.gov) ### Which agencies handled the case? The FBI’s Art Crime Team investigated the case with assistance from the UCLA Police Department, according to both Justice Department releases. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark A. Williams and Dennis Mitchell of the Environmental Crimes and Consumer Protection Section, the sentencing announcement said. (justice.gov) The sentencing release was issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California on July 8, 2026. The office said restitution in the case has not yet been set, leaving a further court step still to come. (justice.gov)