Library condiment criminal jailed

An Idaho library has closed the book on a string of condiment attacks against its book-drop now that the ketchup-wielding criminal has been jailed, a Boise librarian said on Saturday. "We're relieved it's resolved; it's been going on for a while," Ann Costello, reference librarian at Ada County Community Library, said of a caper that began in 2009 when library books in a drive-up drop-box were smothered with substances like corn syrup.

Joy Cassidy, 75, Boise, pleaded guilty on Friday to malicious injury to property stemming from what police said were more than 10 assaults on the book-drop totaling more than $1,000 in damages. An Idaho judge sentenced Cassidy to a month in jail and ordered her to have no contact with Boise area libraries for two years.



Authorities say Cassidy dumped an assortment of condiments including ketchup, maple syrup and mayonnaise into the book deposit because of conflicts the senior citizen had in the past with library patrons and staff.

In an attempt to catch the serial condiment criminal, the library installed a surveillance system but the real break in the case came last summer when Boise police staked out the crime scene. Officers on June 13 took Cassidy into custody after she placed an open jar of mayonnaise in the drop-box, according to a police report.