Who were his accomplices?

No proverb describes quite Blumberg’s experience with accomplices better than “Live by the sword, die by the sword.” Blumberg was a prolific criminal both in quantity of items stolen and quality of heists carried out. Blumberg called on the help of various co-coconspirators, but journalists at the time described his most common helpers as “troubled” young men. According to Philip Weiss, Blumberg had at least one high school yearbook for the local Ottumwa, IA high school, and from this, Blumberg would identify, teach, and use younger men to help him with his thefts. In exchange for their help stealing books, Blumberg paid them, drank beer with them, and hung out with them on his porch (Basbanes, 1995; Weiss, 1994).

Blumberg befriended accomplices strategically so that any financial incentives he offered were deeply motivating (FBI In-class Presentation, 2023; Weiss, 1994). For example, 20-year-old Brian Teeuwe, one of Blumberg’s most entrusted accomplices “needed money for a fix” (Weiss, 1994). The accomplices’ main purpose was to help Blumberg scour obituaries and identify estates with potentially valuable goods.

While Blumberg went on a trip to steal books, he had young adult male accomplices go to auctions and bid for items on his behalf (Basbanes, 1995). Some accomplices were entrusted with larger jobs; Teeuwe went on trips for weeks on end to steal books. He also helped Blumberg steal the oversized turn-of-the-century photographic collection by Edward S. Curtis from the University of Southern California library (Basbanes, 1995; Weiss, 1994). Furthermore, Teeuwe and another younger male accomplice named Dwaine Olson conspired with Blumberg to steal from Henry Clifford’s personal library in pursuit of Figueroa's Manifesto from 1835 (Basbanes, 1995; Weiss, 1994). Blumberg said his accomplices “offered companionship and moral support” (Basbanes, 1995).

The most famous of Blumberg’s accomplices was Kenneth Rhodes, whom Blumberg had known for well over a decade before he was caught. Although Rhodes denied being involved in thefts, according to a presentation by FBI Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Hallock, it is reasonable to think that Rhodes was an accomplice in a crime or two at some point over the years as Blumberg would ship suitcases full of stolen items to Rhodes for safekeeping (Presentation to HRS 390, March 14, 2023). The two met through antique collecting trips, and Rhodes lived in Blumberg’s house in Ottumwa (Basbanes, 1995). However, in exchange for his own financial gain, Rhodes decided to contact a retired FBI agent in Detroit as an informant about Blumberg (FBI In-class Presentation, 2023).

Although Blumberg’s collection grew immensely because of these transactional relationships, his longest string of thefts also came to an end due to his accomplices.