Broad Daylight: The Transylvania Book Heist

Summary

Campus Files: “Broad Daylight: The Transylvania Book Heist”

Podcast: Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities
Host: Margot Gray (Audacy)
Air Date: June 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Margot Gray sits down with Eric Borsick, one of the four college students responsible for the infamous Transylvania University rare book heist. The episode dives deep into the motivations, missteps, and aftermath of the 2004 caper—one of the most audacious crimes in recent collegiate history. Through Eric's reflections, listeners are given rare insight into the complex web of loneliness, status anxiety, and impulsive recklessness that fueled the scheme and its disastrous consequences.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Eric's Upbringing and Search for Belonging (02:30–05:50)

• Class and Status: Eric describes feeling out of place both at a private Catholic school and later at the University of Kentucky.
  • “Just so much based on status... what neighborhood you're living in, how big your house is, what cars you're driving. And my family just didn't have that.” — Eric Borsick (02:30)
• Loss and Loneliness: After losing his soccer scholarship opportunity and falling out with his best friend Warren, Eric finds himself isolated and desperate for connection.

Descent into Desperation and the Lure of the Heist (06:07–09:16)

• Heist Invitation: Warren, Eric's estranged friend, reaches out with a mysterious proposition, finally revealing the plan to rob Transylvania University's rare book room (07:17).
• Heist as Escape: Eric admits to a long-time fascination with heist movies, viewing the plan more as a fantasy than a real crime initially.
  • “It gave me a chance to kind of fantasize what it would be actually like to live as one of these heist characters...” — Eric Borsick (08:29)
• Minimizing Reality: Eric repeatedly rationalizes his involvement, expecting the plan to fizzle out.

Planning the Heist: Dreams Meet Dysfunction (12:04–14:29)

• Role Division: The crew assembles: Warren and Spencer (inside men), Eric (lookout), and Chaz (driver and financier).
• Directions from Movie Buff: Eric’s heist movie experience guides their planning—scoping the library, tracking staff schedules, and mapping security.

The Botched First Attempt (15:09–16:42)

• The team’s initial attempt collapses under poor disguises and unexpected staff changes:
  • “Right away realized that our old man costumes were not as good as we thought...” — Eric Borsick (16:10)
• Crisis of Conscience: After narrowly avoiding disaster, Eric experiences fleeting relief at home before being pulled back in.

The Heist—Second Attempt and Execution (18:14–23:25)

Nervous Preparation & Red Lines

• Eric’s Boundary: He refuses to tie up the librarian, agreeing only to help after she’s restrained (18:34).
• Altered Plan: Spencer switches to lookout to avoid recognition; Eric takes his place inside.

Day of the Crime

• Unexpected Variables: The librarian, Betty Gooch, greets Eric—contrary to the plan (19:47).
• Moment of No Return:
  • “As I’m having this moment... I look up and I see Warren give me this look back. And I was like, oh, shit.” — Eric Borsick (20:23)
  • Warren assaults Betty, and Eric is suddenly an active participant in a violent felony (20:35).
• Personal Reckoning: Eric is horrified at realizing he's become the kind of criminal he once feared as a child.
  • “To kind of have this realization that I had become that person that I was scared of as a kid was a pretty difficult realization.” — Eric Borsick (21:27)
• Escape Chaos: The team drops the $10 million Birds of America during their escape, fleeing with only a fraction of their intended loot.

Aftermath: The Fallout (24:24–31:55)

The (Brief) Thrill of “Getting Away”

• False Confidence: Initial news coverage frames them as professionals, giving the group a fleeting sense of accomplishment (25:00).
• Attempt to Fence the Goods: They travel to Christie's in New York for official appraisal, but Spencer carelessly gives his real phone number—an incriminating blunder (28:47–29:05).

Paranoia and Guilt Rise

• Eric Drops Out: Unable to maintain the façade, Eric leaves college, lies to his family, and spirals into paranoia (29:52–31:16).
• Police Closing In: The group is increasingly watched; law enforcement tails and undercover presence confirm their fears.

Arrest, Consequences, and Prison Life (32:13–35:13)

• SWAT Raid: Police raid the house on February 11, 2005. Eric briefly contemplates escape before surrendering:
  • “You have to face up to this thing... that’s the only way to move forward at this point.” — Eric Borsick (32:30)
• Sentencing: All four plead guilty to six federal charges; each receives seven years in federal prison.
• Education in Prison: The group forms their own curriculum, finally embracing the academic rigor they avoided in college.
  • “We had little classes set up for ourselves... Eventually, I really gave myself over to literature and to writing...” — Eric Borsick (34:33)

Reflection and Reckoning (35:13–36:10)

• Writing as Healing: Eric writes his memoir, American Animals, wrestling with the true cost of his actions.
• Understanding Motives: He inelegantly attributes the heist to a desire for escape, recognizing its deep selfishness.
  • “We were trying to get away from where we were living and who we were... Crime was like the easiest outlet for escape.” — Eric Borsick (35:13)
• Ongoing Guilt: Eric still struggles to accept the harm done, especially to Betty Gooch.
  • “You can’t ever take back... you traumatized someone for life and you have to live with that.” — Eric Borsick (35:51)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On alienation:
  “Always this feeling of always feeling inadequate.” — Eric Borsick (02:50)

• On the decision to join:
  “I just need to know if you trust me or if you say no, it’s fine. I can’t really tell you about it until I know if you’re in.” — Warren (07:03, paraphrased by Eric and Margot)

• On how quickly plans unraveled:
  “We thought it was a clever idea to dress up like old men... It was a nightmare.” — Eric Borsick (16:10)

• On the rush of crime versus reality:
  “I literally felt like my life just—the train tracks just completely switched tracks. And I just knew my life would never be the same.” — Eric Borsick (20:35)

• Moments of guilt and self-awareness:
  “I had become that person that I was scared of as a kid.” — Eric Borsick (21:27)

• On unintended outcomes:
  “We just hear this blood-curling scream... $10 million worth of books hit the floor and they ran.” — Margot Gray (23:08–23:25)

• On getting caught:
  “You know that you’re not going to get what you’re looking for by running. You have to face up to this thing...” — Eric Borsick (32:30)

• On the real cost:
  “These things you can’t ever take back and you’ve traumatized someone for life and you have to live with that.” — Eric Borsick (35:51)

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Segment Timestamps

• Eric’s background / feelings of inadequacy: 02:30–05:50
• Heist proposal and planning: 06:07–14:29
• First attempt and failed disguises: 15:09–16:42
• The heist itself: 18:14–23:25
• Aftermath / Christie's trip: 24:24–29:38
• Paranoia and suspecting investigation: 29:52–31:55
• Police raid and arrest: 32:13–33:40
• Prison experience: 34:05–35:13
• Reflection, remorse, and legacy: 35:13–36:10

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Tone & Style

The episode flows like a true-crime drama, blending Eric’s raw, often blunt honesty with host Margot Gray’s probing, empathetic questions. The conversation feels confessional and deeply reflective, peppered with black humor, regret, and clinical detail.

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Takeaway

The Transylvania Book Heist, as told by Eric Borsick, unpacks how yearning for belonging and quick escape can lead college students far from the dreams and ideals that campus life is supposed to inspire. In the end, the “heist” is less about rare books and more about the deeply human cost of mistakes—both to oneself and to others.

Transcript

[Margot Gray]

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[Eric Borsick]

Transylvania University, where the audacious robbery was carried out in broad day.

[Margot Gray]

I saw it in the theater when it came out in 2018. It's a heist movie, but not your typical one. The robbers aren't targeting a bank or a museum. They're targeting a college library. Specifically, the rare books inside forced their

[Eric Borsick]

way into the Special collections room, home to some of America's most valuable books.

[Margot Gray]

And the robbers, they're not seasoned criminals. They're for college students, all freshmen.

[Eric Borsick]

Officials are helping police search for the two men who stole the books and the two men who drove the getaway vehicle.

[Margot Gray]

The story is completely true. Margot. I'm Margo Gray. This week on Campus files the story of the Transylvania book heist. Eric Borsick moved around a lot as a kid. His dad worked at IBM, and the job sent the family all over the country. Eventually, they settled down in Lexington, Kentucky. Eric was not a fan of the place,

[Eric Borsick]

just so much based on status, you know, like what neighborhood you're living in, how big your house is, like what cars you're driving. And my family, you know, just didn't have that.

[Margot Gray]

Eric's family lived on the outskirts of town, near farm country, but his parents sent him to a private Catholic school in the heart of the city.

[Eric Borsick]

My parents were like, we're getting you out of these schools. It was just like these really bad backwoods schools. So they like really struggled to put put us into these private schools in Lexington. They really thought that it would make a difference in my life and my siblings lives, but really ended up finding that surrounded by these really wealthy kids that I didn't have as much of a connection with. And these kids are getting Range Rovers on their birthdays. It was just such a divide. I was wearing knockoff stuff and they were wearing the nice polo clothes. And there's always this feeling of always feeling inadequate.

[Margot Gray]

That's part of why Eric was so ready to leave for college. He wanted a fresh start. He didn't want to feel inadequate anymore. And he had a plan to get there. Even though his family didn't have the money, soccer was his way in. He was good, really good. Good enough to get recruited by schools all across the country. But things didn't go according to plan.

[Eric Borsick]

At the end. I had a lot of injuries and I was just really kind of burnt out. So like I was kind of over it at that point. So I just quit soccer altogether.

[Margot Gray]

Without a scholarship, Eric had to figure out what he could afford. Even with student loans, the options were limited. In the end, the only thing that worked was the in state option. The University of Kentucky, just down the road from his high school.

[Eric Borsick]

So I never even thought that I would be going to college in Kentucky, especially not the city where I grew up in. It was always like west coast or Florida or something like that. But since I was staying in Lexington, I was really hoping that I was like, okay, it's bigger, it's going to be different.

[Margot Gray]

But that's not what happened. Eric found himself feeling like a fish out of water again, Surrounded by wealthy kids, caught up in status.

[Eric Borsick]

And I just couldn't really find my place in that world in the way that I was kind of hoping or expected to.

[Margot Gray]

Eric was lonely. And it didn't help that his best friend from high school, who also happened to be at the University of Kentucky, had gotten into a fight with him and stopped speaking. That's part of why Eric decided to give Greek life a shot. He'd never pictured himself as a frat guy, but he figured it might be a way to make some friends.

[Eric Borsick]

Pretty quickly realized that I was definitely not a fraternity guy. Just immediately went from like, being fun and just like going to parties to suddenly like, you're in basements being hazed and stuff. And I was like, wait, What? Why am I doing this?

[Margot Gray]

Eventually, Eric quit the fraternity, but things just got worse.

[Eric Borsick]

These frat guys put out, like, a frat hit on me. So anywhere I went on campus, they were instructed to fight me if they saw me on campus. So going around campus, paranoid all day, I'm, like, leaving my classes and looking around, and it was constantly like I was bumping into these guys.

[Margot Gray]

I know you got beaten up by these frat guys a few times. If you were already feeling lonely at that point, how was that affecting you?

[Eric Borsick]

I remember this class I was taking. One of the topics at the time was mass extinction events. And I remember having this culmination of, like, all these things in my life, kind of feeling like my world was imploding or, you know, coming to an end.

[Margot Gray]

That's where Eric was in his life when he got a call in the middle of the night from Warren, the high school friend he'd had a falling out with. It was the last name he expected to see on his phone. They hadn't spoken in months. Warren was drunk, incoherent, but he said he wanted to meet up. And the next day, the two met at Pozzo's Pizza Pub.

[Eric Borsick]

So it was kind of, like, weird from the start. I didn't know if it was just because, you know, we hadn't seen each other in a while. It was kind of, like, tense and awkward, and he seemed very tense, more than normal.

[Margot Gray]

Eric ordered a round of beers to loosen things up. He could tell Warren had something he wanted to say, like he was rehearsing lines in his head. It took a few more rounds of beer before Warren finally said it. He had a plan to make some serious money. Another friend from high school was already involved. So did Eric want in?

[Eric Borsick]

And I was kind of like, okay, well, I don't know anything about what you're talking about, so I can't really tell you. He's like, I just need to know if you trust me or if you say no, it's fine. I can't really tell you about it until I know if you're in.

[Margot Gray]

Eric had no idea what he'd be agreeing to, but he was curious, and he wanted a reason to have Warren back in his life. So he said yes. Warren looked around the room to make sure nobody was listening. Then he leaned in and lowered his voice. He and their other friend Spencer, were planning to rob the rare books room at Transylvania University, the nearby college where Spencer was enrolled.

[Eric Borsick]

Yeah, I don't think the average person in Lexington would know that Transylvania had so much valuable artwork in their collection. It's a really historic university. It's one of the oldest in the country. They have this pretty extensive special collections museum.

[Margot Gray]

As part of an art class, Spencer had toured the university's special collections museum, including the rare books room. One book in particular stuck with him. Audubon's Birds of America. It was worth about $10 million, and from what he could tell, there was very little security. When Eric heard this, he got excited. Not just because of the money, but because he'd been obsessed with heists his whole life. He'd seen every heist movie he could find.

[Eric Borsick]

It gave me a chance to kind of fantasize what it would be actually like to live as one of these heist characters that I had always kind of watched in films and read about. And it gave me something different to just focus on. It gave me, like, a new purpose in life at a time when I felt very lost and without purpose.

[Margot Gray]

To Eric, that's all it was, a fantasy, a fun distraction from his real life.

[Eric Borsick]

I wasn't really taking it that seriously at first. I was kind of just like, okay, yeah, maybe if I, like, go along with this, it'll like, get our friendship back together. But, like, this thing will probably, like, obviously never happen. I'm sure we're not going to rob a museum. It didn't really seem real at the

[Margot Gray]

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[Eric Borsick]

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[Margot Gray]

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[Eric Borsick]

Hang on, let me see that.

[Margot Gray]

Oh yeah, we're switching.

[Eric Borsick]

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[Margot Gray]

Eric had said yes. He'd helped plan the heist. He was glad to be spending time with Warren again, grateful for the distraction from his loneliness. But there was one thing he couldn't quite figure out. Why Warren and Spencer needed his help in the first place.

[Eric Borsick]

When Warren first approached me, I think he kind of sold it as if he had this whole thing kind of lined up and they just needed a little extra muscle. It wasn't until I was really kind of in deep that I realized, oh, they don't really have much of a plan. That's probably why they brought me along.

[Margot Gray]

Warren and Spencer knew Eric was something of an expert on heists. Not because he'd ever pulled one off himself, but because he'd spent years watching heist movies. And sure enough, Eric knew exactly where to start. Step one, scope the scene.

[Eric Borsick]

Just kind of jotting down the layout of the library, seeing how busy it got with respect to students and as well as staff and kind of mapping out staff schedules and mapping out surveillance cameras, emergency exits, escape routes, things like that.

[Margot Gray]

The original plan was very Ocean's Eleven. Sneak in overnight, take the books. No need to deal with anyone. But they had to pivot.

[Eric Borsick]

The actual nighttime security was pretty intense. And really the easiest way was just to go in during the daytime because there's practically no security. Oftentimes just one librarian guarding millions of dollars worth of artwork.

[Margot Gray]

The guys met once a week to work on the heist. But pretty quickly, that wasn't enough. The meetings became more frequent. Soon they were getting together every day, usually in Warren's living room. And as the plan started to take shape, they realized they were missing two things. Money for supplies and a car they could use without it being traced back to them. That's when they brought in another student, Chaz. He had both. Everybody had a role. Chaz would drive the car. Warren and Spencer would meet with the librarian, get her into the rare books room, and zip tie her. Eric's job was lookout. He'd signaled to Chaz when it was time to bring the car around.

[Eric Borsick]

My whole thing is, I never wanted to go in. I'm not going in there. I'm not tying someone up. I'm just like, I'm just not. I'm thinking that if I'm not in there, then that somehow justifies it.

[Margot Gray]

That was Eric's red line. But otherwise, he wasn't wrestling with his conscience much. Mostly because deep down, he didn't think the heist was actually going to happen. Not really. Not until the morning of December 16, 2004, the day of the heist. He says everyone was on edge. There was a nervous energy hanging over everything that morning.

[Eric Borsick]

We were snorting lines and drinking alcohol, like, early in the morning. Anything we could do to kind of force ourselves to get through this just literally just felt, like sick to our stomachs. But for some reason, we just felt like we had to do it. This is, like, the answer to all of our problems.

[Margot Gray]

Somehow, from the start, nothing went according to plan. They'd intentionally scheduled the heist for right before Christmas break, figuring students and staff would have cleared out for the holidays.

[Eric Borsick]

For some reason, the place was just packed. There were, like, still all these students cramming for finals. It was just like the complete opposite of how we had planned it going. The parking lot was packed. We had to, like, park the van really far away. We couldn't get our getaway spot that we had planned for, which was, like, right on the side of the building. It was just, like, right off the bat, you know, like, should we just abort this mission? This doesn't feel good.

[Margot Gray]

They Decided to forge ahead. Warren, Spencer, and Eric made their way to the library. And almost immediately, the next part of the plan started to fall apart. The disguises. They thought it was a clever idea to dress up like old men. Wigs, tweed jackets, flat caps.

[Eric Borsick]

Right away realized that our old man costumes were not as good as we thought they were gonna be. People were, like, staring at us and laughing. You know, they thought it was some sort of prank or, like, performance piece. It was just like. It was a nightmare.

[Margot Gray]

And then came the final straw. The librarian they'd scheduled the appointment with, Betty Gooch, wasn't there. Instead, two strangers were sitting behind the reception desk. They had no choice but to abandon ship.

[Eric Borsick]

So we all kind of rush out with our tails between our legs. There's still students laughing and pointing at us. It was just like, the whole thing was such a mess. The drive home was, like, really quiet. You could tell there was this vibe in the car of, like, well, what now? What do we do now?

[Margot Gray]

Eric needed to clear his head. He drove home for dinner with his parents, away from campus, away from the guys.

[Eric Borsick]

And I remember just sitting around the dinner table and having this moment of, like, God, you know, I could have been arrested today. And looking at my family members and just thinking about how it could have affected their lives and how differently that dinner could have been, you know, that night for them and what they would be going through if we'd actually gone through with it.

[Margot Gray]

Eric left his parents feeling relieved. But it didn't last long. When he got back to campus that night, Warren, Spencer, and Chaz were waiting for him. They were furious. They'd been looking everywhere. And they had news. The plan was back on. The librarian, Betty Gooch, confirmed she'd be at the library the next day for their appointment. So you've just had this kind of cathartic moment, seeing your family. How do you so quickly get back on board with the plan?

[Eric Borsick]

Because it was from the start, three on one. I did feel obligated in a sense, like, we've come this far. I can't leave them hanging now. And at the same time, I think it kind of gets back to that feeling of, like, I'm always going to regret not doing this.

[Margot Gray]

This time, the plan would be different. Warren walked everyone through it. Before, Spencer had been the one accompanying Warren inside the library. But they realized that was too risky. Too many transy students might recognize him. So Spencer would stay outside on lookout, and Eric would take his place.

[Eric Borsick]

It just like, immediately I started pushing back. For me, that was just kind of, like, the line, you know, I don't know. I can't be in there for that. I can drive the car. I can do whatever. I don't, you know, I don't care. But, you know, I'm not tying anyone up. That's kind of where my line was.

[Margot Gray]

They went back and forth. Finally, they reached a compromise. Eric wouldn't enter the rare books room until Betty had been tied up. He'd wait downstairs. Only then would he come upstairs to help carry the books out of the library. The next morning, they piled into the van. Take two.

[Eric Borsick]

I was the first one to go in. I went in, kind of scoped the place out, took my seat in the study room. And the plan was that I would wait until I got the phone call from him to come on up.

[Margot Gray]

Eric pretended to read Ulysses while he waited for the phone call. He kept reading the same line over and over again. Then his phone rang.

[Eric Borsick]

And I exit the study room and I start walking up the staircase. And I get to the top of the staircase and what do I find? It's the librarian holding the door open for me.

[Margot Gray]

Betty welcomed him into Special Collections. This was not part of the plan. Betty was supposed to be zip tied, handled. Instead, she was standing there, smiling at him.

[Eric Borsick]

So here I am, kind of like panicking, like, I don't know what I'm going to do. She's asking me to sign into the guest book. A part of me just thought, like, okay, I guess we're just going to go on a tour of the museum now and probably just, like, leave and then talk about how we never went through with that heist for the rest of our lives. And as I'm having this moment of, like, what do I do? And should I just leave? Are we just going on a tour? I don't know. And I look up and I see Warren kind of like, give me this look back. And I was like, oh, shit.

[Margot Gray]

The next thing Eric knew, Warren had his arm around Betty and took her to the ground.

[Eric Borsick]

Of course, naturally, she screamed. And so I'm like, oh. Oh, my God, my God, my God. I'm freaking out. And it sounds kind of cheesy, but I literally felt like my life just the train tracks just completely switched tracks. And I just knew that my life would never be the same.

[Margot Gray]

Eric stood there frozen. Warren shouted at him to help tie up Betty's feet. When Eric stepped toward her, she begged him not to hurt her.

[Eric Borsick]

In my mind, I'm thinking, to me, that's so ridiculous. Of course I would never, like Hurt an old woman or anyone, really. But then to kind of have that realization that, no, I become that criminal

[Margot Gray]

that people are scared of in that moment. Eric had a flashback when he was a kid. His local grocery store had been robbed. He remembered hearing that the robbers had tied everyone up in the back.

[Eric Borsick]

It was just very scary as a child hearing that. This place that I would go to every day with my mom and just thinking, like, oh, my God, that could happen to one of us, like at any moment. And so to kind of have this realization that I had become that person that I was scared of as a kid was a pretty difficult realization.

[Margot Gray]

Eric and Warren started packing up the rare books, stuffing some in their backpacks, wrapping others in bed sheets. The books were a lot heavier than they expected. They hauled everything to the elevator and hit the button for the main floor. So far, so good. But when the elevator doors opened, worst case scenario, another library employee was there.

[Eric Borsick]

She's pretty far away, maybe like 20, 30ft away. But she clearly knows that these young guys shouldn't be coming down from the staff elevator carrying these huge things wrapped in bed sheets.

[Margot Gray]

They frantically hit the button for the basement, but there was no exit down there, which meant they'd have to go back up. They were praying that the librarian had gone upstairs by then to check on Betty. She had, but they still weren't in the clear.

[Eric Borsick]

We just hear this blood curdling scream, this woman's voice. She screams out, what the hell are you doing? And she starts screaming, stop them. Stop them. They're robbing the library. And so she starts barreling down the

[Margot Gray]

staircase as she sprinted toward them. They had to make a split second decision. If they were going to make a run for it, they'd have to drop Audubon's birds of America. $10 million worth of books hit the floor and they ran.

[Eric Borsick]

The woman actually chased us all the way to the van and she was pounding on the windows as we were peeling out. It was a whole scene.

[Margot Gray]

Chaz slammed his foot against the accelerator and didn't let up. They sped past cars, narrowly missing collisions. Eric remembers the sound of screeching tires and the sound of Warren vomiting out the window.

[Eric Borsick]

Yeah, I think seeing Warren throwing up out the window on the way out was a sobering, jolting moment for me because he had kind of portrayed himself to be not scared of anything. And he was like, yeah, no problem. I'll take care of this. You don't even have to be there. And then on the flip side, kind of seeing the real effects of what it was doing to him and what he just put himself through. And maybe that's why he needed me to be in the room when it happened, because he really couldn't do this. He really wasn't prepared to do what he said he could do.

[Margot Gray]

Still, they'd done it kind of. The birds of America was gone, but they still had about a million dollars worth of books in their backpacks, including a first edition of Darwin's on the Origin of Species. Eric didn't have time to process any of it. He had a final exam that afternoon.

[Eric Borsick]

So I'm sitting in this classroom unable to focus on my exam, and I just was, like, marking answers like, I have to get out of here as quickly as possible.

[Margot Gray]

Eric spent the whole afternoon convinced the police could arrest them at any moment. But that evening, they turned on the news.

[Eric Borsick]

Police say the group knew exactly what they were looking for. Officials are helping police search for the two men who stole the book and the two men who drove the getaway vehicle. And they were saying that they had no deeds to go on and that they thought it was the work of professionals, which we all thought was really funny. But the reality was that there really weren't many cameras. They probably didn't have a great view of us. This was a time before facial recognition.

[Margot Gray]

Against the odds, it seemed like they'd actually pulled it off. They drank to celebrate. For a moment, it really felt like they were in the clear. But that feeling was about to fall apart. June is here, which means it's finally time to reach for your summer wardrobe. And if you're trying to look good without overheating, Quint's is your best bet. Their summer collection has all the warm weather staples. Breathable linen, washable silk, and soft organic cotton. I now own their 100% linen pants in more colors than I'd like to admit. And the best part is that you get all that quality without the luxury markup. Everything at quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. Quints works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're paying for quality, not brand markup. And it's not just clothing. Quint has become a destination for elevated essentials across the home, from kitchen to bedding, making it easy to bring a more premium feel into everyday life. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com campus for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com campus for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com campus. You know that thing where you get an amazing pair of shoes at a really great price and want to tell everyone about it? Yeah. So do we here at Designer Shoe Warehouse. We'll give you something to brag about, like the latest styles from brands you love or the trends everyone's obsessing over or shoes that make you feel like, well, you. So go ahead, show off a little. Find shoes that get you the prices

[Eric Borsick]

that get your budget.

[Margot Gray]

Head to your DSW store or dsw.com today. DSW. Let us surprise you. Eric told his family that he was going on a ski trip to West Virginia. He wasn't. He was going to New York for a meeting at Christie's, one of the world's leading auction houses for fine art and antiques. Orin had set up the meeting so they could get their stolen books appraised. They needed to know exactly what they were worth. Their buyer in Amsterdam required it before the sale could go through. So the four boys piled into a car and started the long drive from Kentucky to New York City. It was Eric's first time in Manhattan and he could barely contain his excitement.

[Eric Borsick]

Was kind of having this conflicting moment of like, okay, well, we're here for this thing and I need to focus on that. At the same time trying to kind of like relax and enjoy it.

[Margot Gray]

It was hard to relax given what they were about to do. The plan was bold. Christie's is a multi billion dollar auction house. Security guards, cameras everywhere. Thankfully, Eric didn't have to go into the meeting. That part was up to Spencer and Warren. Eric and Chaz waited outside, sitting on a bench by the ice rink at Rockefeller Center. Time moved slowly. Finally, after about an hour, Warren and Spencer stepped back outside.

[Eric Borsick]

From the start, we could tell that something was up. We're trying to gauge them, like, so how did it go? What do you think the next steps are? And it was kind of like, yeah, you know, like, they're going to get back to us. And we were kind of having like, pull answers out of them. They weren't being very, like, forthcoming.

[Margot Gray]

Then Chaz asked, well, how are they going to contact you? Warren and Spencer glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes. A long silence followed. Then Spencer admitted something. He'd given them his real phone number. Of all the mistakes they'd made so far, nothing compared to this. Chaz started, visibly panicking. He insisted they go back to Christie's, ask them to delete the phone number. But it was too late. The drive back to Kentucky was tense.

[Eric Borsick]

We thought that we were just going to pull this thing off flawlessly, you know, no problem, just like the movies. But we definitely knew that the phone number issue with Christie's could most likely be our downfall.

[Margot Gray]

The inevitability of getting caught was starting to sink in. For Eric, it felt like only a matter of time. The other boys chose to act like everything was normal. They enrolled in classes for the next semester. They said it was important to keep up appearances. But Eric couldn't play along. He decided to drop out of the University of Kentucky. He was nervous to tell his parents.

[Eric Borsick]

I think I told them that I had some job lined up somewhere to make them feel like less. Because I think at that point in my life, they were pretty concerned with what was going on with me. I looked pretty detached.

[Margot Gray]

Eric can still hear his dad's words ringing in his head. College isn't for everyone.

[Eric Borsick]

And just that sense of like. That was the phrase you always heard for people who kind of, like, failed in life, who couldn't cut it. Having that gut punch feeling of like, maybe he's right. Maybe I couldn't cut it.

[Margot Gray]

Eric considered fleeing to Europe, but he never made a real plan. Even after he dropped out of college, he continued living in the house with his friends. And he hung around campus, drinking, doing drugs, becoming increasingly paranoid. They all were. One day, Warren noticed people trailing him. Men who looked an awful lot like police officers. Then there was the time the mailman showed up with an unusual request. A complete list of everyone who lived in the house.

[Eric Borsick]

All these things that were kind of happening at that time, feeding into this paranoia. We all thought that Spencer was being, like, overly paranoid. When he told us one day that he thought that there were undercover students in his classes. But we later found out that that was actually true.

[Margot Gray]

The paranoia started to take over. Eric began going to bed fully dressed in his tracksuit, ready for the moment the police showed up. He had an escape plan mapped out in his head. When the time came, he'd jump out of his bedroom window, sprint across the yard, and slip through a hole he'd cut in the fence. One that led to the track and field complex.

[Eric Borsick]

Day after day, it wouldn't come. And you would visualize it and what it's going to look like. And then, you know, another day would go and it wouldn't come. And then you start to wonder, is this real? Is this in my head?

[Margot Gray]

Then on the morning of February 11, 2005, Eric woke up to doors being kicked in men shouting, federal search warrant.

[Eric Borsick]

So I remember just like standing in my room and in the dark at like 5 o' clock in the morning, as I'm hearing them bust down doors and go through the house. And so for me, it was almost just like muscle memory. I had practiced it so many times in my head what I was going to do, and I'm halfway out the window, ready to make my escape. It just kind of hit me, you know, just give up, it's over. You know that you're not going to get what you're looking for by running. You have to face up to this thing, and that's the only way to kind of like move forward at this point. And so I just pulled my leg back in.

[Margot Gray]

Eric got down from the window sill, then he opened the bedroom door. Men in SWAT uniform swarmed him and forced him to the ground. And at that point, did you have any idea how serious the consequences could be?

[Eric Borsick]

It was clear to me that we were going to go to prison. I don't know about the other guys. I kind of got the impression almost that they didn't think that. But for me, I always knew if we got caught that we would most likely do some pretty serious time.

[Margot Gray]

Eric was right. They all pled guilty to six federal charges, and on December 7, 2005, they were sentenced to seven years in federal prison.

[Eric Borsick]

The judge, even as she was sentencing us, said that she thought we probably deserved 10 years even, but she was concerned that doing that much time, we might not be able to get our lives back on track.

[Margot Gray]

Eric began serving his sentence just four days before his 21st birthday. He was at Ashland Federal Correctional Institution along with Warren and Spencer. Together, they tried to make the time feel less meaningless. They dedicated themselves to learning something they hadn't exactly prioritized when they were actually in college. They worked their way through every textbook they could find. Math, science, history, economics, literature.

[Eric Borsick]

We had little classes set up for ourselves based around core subjects mixed with meditation and exercise and creative expression, things like that. Eventually, I really gave myself over to literature and to writing and was able to figure out who I was and what I was passionate about for the first time in my life, really.

[Margot Gray]

That's when Eric started writing his memoir, American Animals. He took the title from a phrase in Darwin's on the Origin of Species, one of the books he'd stolen. Writing it became a way of trying to make sense of what had happened, why he and his friends had done it.

[Eric Borsick]

I think it really all just came back to escape. We were trying to kind of get away from where we were living and who we were and the lives we were living. People are always like, oh, you could have joined the Peace Corps or done this or done that. If you need escape, it's like, yeah, of course, you know, those would have been the better routes. But you don't always do that at the time when you're 18, 19 and you kind of reach for what's in front of you. I think for us, crime was like the easiest outlet. It was our easiest outlet for escape.

[Margot Gray]

It's been 20 years since Eric committed the crime, but he's still wrestling with the harm he caused to his family and to the librarian.

[Eric Borsick]

It's like, you know, these things that you can't ever take back and you've traumatized someone for life and you have to live with that. It's a constant struggle that, you know, still stays with me to this day.

[Margot Gray]

If you've got a story idea, we would love to hear about it. Send us an email at campus files pod gmail.com and if you're loving this podcast, be sure to click Follow on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode while you're there. Leave us a review and a five star rating. Campus Files is an Odyssey original podcast hosted by Margot Gray and Ian Mond. Our executive producers are Leah Rhys Dennis and Lloyd Lockridge. Campus Files is produced by Ian Monkt and Margot Gray. Sound design and engineering by Andy Jaskowicz and Zach Clark. Legal support by Laura Berman and Melissa Jean. Original music by Davy Sumner. Special thanks to Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Hillary Shaw, Eric Donnelly, Kate Hutchison, Rose, Sean Cherry, Kirk Courtney and Lauren Vieira.

[Eric Borsick]

Today's episode is sponsored by NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast. Personal finance can feel like a pop quiz you didn't study for. This podcast is your study guide. On NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast, you'll hear from trusted journalists who explain the why behind major financial financial decisions. You'll get research backed insights and clear pros and cons. Whether you're planning a big purchase or just want to grow your wealth, make your next financial move with confidence. Follow NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast on your favorite podcast app at Lowe's. We're about to kick off something epic. For fans who want more messi and trust us, you'll want to be a rewards member when it happens. Join for for free and get access to messy exclusives, surprises and more. Head to Lowe's. Com moremessy Now's the time to get in because members get more at Lowe's loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. Visit Lowe's.com terms for details. Subject to change.