Kenmore man arrested for trying to sell stolen bookmark purportedly belonging to Hitler

Federal agents have recovered an 18-karat gold bookmark reportedly belonging to Adolf Hitler and arrested the 37-year-old man who was trying to sell it during an undercover sting at a Bellevue Starbucks.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the bookmark and several pieces of jewelry were stolen in Spain in 2002 just before the items were to be auctioned. The bookmark is believed to have once belonged to the family of Wilhelm Keitel, Hitler's armed forces chief who was executed following the Nuremberg trials, ICE said.

The bookmark was reportedly given to Hitler by his mistress, Eva Braun, in 1943 as consolation for the defeat of his army at Stalingrad that year, ICE said. The bookmark bears a likeness of Hitler and an inscription in German that reads, "My Adolf, don't worry ... (the defeat) ... was only an inconvenience that will not break your certainty of victory."

Hitler and Braun died in Berlin in the closing days of World War II. Keitel was arrested, tried for war crimes and executed in 1946.

ICE agents said Christian Popescu, a Romanian national who lives in Kenmore, had offered to sell the bookmark for $100,000.

According to a complaint filed this morning in U.S. District Court in Seattle, ICE agents used a "confidential source" who had been contacted three years earlier by Popescu about selling the bookmark. The complaint does not identify the source or say how agents found him.

The complaint says ICE had learned about the existence of the bookmark in August 2007 and began an investigation that involved INTERPOL, the Spanish National Police and other agencies.

According to news reports at the time, three men entered an auction house in Madrid on Oct. 15, 2002, and stole the bookmark, jewelry and artifacts from a glass showcase.

The bookmark, which was set to be auctioned, was expected to bring a price of several thousand dollars. INTERPOL estimated its value at at least $13,000.

According to the complaint, a Romanian named Valadimir Mihailow was arrested, and two others were being sought. The bookmark was never recovered.

The confidential source — being observed by undercover ICE agents — first met with Popescu at a Starbucks in Bellevue on Nov. 10, according to the charges. The source was shown the bookmark, concealed in a white case, and was asked if he could help find a buyer. Popescu wanted $150,000 for it, saying later that it had been hard to get into the country, the charges allege.

The complaint says that the source called Popescu back on Monday and, in a recorded conversation monitored by ICE agents, told him he had found a buyer and arranged for a meeting at the Starbucks at noon Tuesday. With an ICE agent posing as the buyer, Popescu agreed to the meeting and was arrested by armed agents outside the store.

Popescu has been charged with the sale of stolen goods and will appear before a U.S. magistrate judge this afternoon. The charge is punishable by 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com