Man sentenced for stealing, replacing rare Chinese manuscripts from UCLA libraries
Bookshelves in the underground section of Charles E. Young Research Library are pictured. Jeffrey Ying stole more than $200,000 worth of rare Chinese manuscripts from the UCLA Library system. (Andrew Ramiro Diaz/Photo editor)
By Alexis Muchnik
July 8, 2026 6:44 p.m.
A man was sentenced Wednesday for stealing more than $200,000 worth of rare Chinese manuscripts from the UCLA Library system.
[Related: Man arrested for allegedly stealing rare Chinese manuscripts from UCLA libraries]
Jeffrey Ying, who is from Fremont, California, will serve one year of home confinement and three years on supervised release, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ying was arrested in August after he stole manuscripts from the UCLA East Asian Library and UCLA Library Special Collections and replaced them with fake copies multiple times, starting in October 2024, according to an affidavit filed with the original complaint.
Ying pleaded guilty in October.
The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on the sentencing. UCPD transferred the case to the Federal Bureau of Investigations shortly after Ying was arrested.
Ying used three aliases – “Alan Fujimori,” “Jason Wang” and “Austin Chen” – and checked out more than six manuscripts over the course of about nine months, according to the affidavit. He usually traveled to and from China and South Korea following the thefts, according to the affidavit.
Books from UC Irvine and UC San Diego were transferred to the UCLA Library after Ying requested them, according to the affidavit. People at the UC can request books be transferred between campuses using UC Library Search, according to the UC Library’s website.
UCLA Media Relations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sentencing.
