Potter Thief Cops a Plea

Wed., May. 14, 2003 2:15 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

Maybe they'll send him to Azkaban prison.

A forklift driver pleaded guilty on Wednesday to swiping a copy of J. K. Rowling's soon-to-be-released Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Britain's Sun newspaper reports.

Donald Parfitt, a 44-year-old printing plant worker at Clays Ltd., the company that's printing the much-drooled-after fifth installment in the Harry Potter series, was taken into custody last week after trying to sell a manuscript of the book, which doesn't officially hit stores until June 21.

According to the Sun, Parfitt was nabbed by undercover police officers in a sting after journalists notified authorities that a "shifty-sounding man" man who went by the name "James" telephoned the tabloid offering three chapters of Phoenix for $40,000.

Faster than a snitch, Parfitt told police that he found copies of the pages in a parking lot at Clays and made a stupid decision to hawk it after recalling that newspapers were supposedly offering money for an inside peak at Rowling's new novel.

His attorney, Richard Mann, said Parfitt regretted his action and "desperately wishes this whole episode hadn't occurred at all."

"He had a normal day's work at Clays. He came out of work and was waiting for a lift. On the floor in the car park was this particular item. Some chapters from the new book. At that point he should have given them back but he didn't," said Mann.

Mann also said Parfitt was deeply embarrassed by the whole incident and his own moral failings.

He reacted in an instinctive, opportunistic way...He saw it at that point as good luck. It turned out to be very bad luck," noted Mann. "He is very much a broken man. The whole world knows he has been charged with this high profile offense."

The driver also hates his new-found Slytherin rep.

"His name is now associated with dishonesty," added Mann. "He thinks he's going to lose a lot of friends. He is certainly someone who will lose his job."

At least we know You-Know-Who wasn't behind the book heist.

The mystery began when an unidentified good Samaritan stumbled across two unbound copies of Phoenix while walking through a field in Bungay, Suffolk, where the book's printer is based. He informed the Sun of his find and the newspaper then handed over the manuscripts over to Bloomsbury Publishing, Rowling's publisher, who launched an in-house investigation leading to last week's arrest.

Also busted in police raids were two unidentified 16-year-olds and an 18-year-old, all of whom have been charged with handling stolen merchandise. Mann said that Parfitt's case had no connection with those arrests.

Parfitt is scheduled to be sentenced on June 4.

In the meantime, hoping to keep the new Potter story cloaked in secrecy, Rowling & Co. have gotten a restraining order to halt any early publication of Order of the Phoenix, as well as a legal court order that all copies of the book be returned.

Speaking of which, the Sun said it would adhere to the author's request and not reveal any details of the plot it may have picked up with the two books in its possession.