Yale University issued the following statement on August 1:

Several recent news stories have mischaracterized Yale University’s views regarding the federal investigation of map thefts by E. Forbes Smiley. Yale is confident that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have conducted a thorough investigation of the thefts, and the University is grateful for the extraordinary efforts that the federal authorities have made to recover maps stolen from Yale.

As I reread the stories in question, it’s clear to me that the concerns about the investigation are primarily coming from the British Library, and, secondarily, from Harvard and interested third parties; Yale, because so many of its maps are still missing (see previous entry), is being lumped in with the rest: there’s a difference between saying “we are still missing maps; here’s a list” and “we are still missing maps; we think that guy’s responsible and you guys are letting him off the hook.”

Via MapHist. See previous entries: Boston Globe on Libraries’ Suspicions About Smiley; Libraries Suspect Smiley in More Map Thefts; Is Forbes Smiley Getting Off Easy?; Three Missing British Maps Still Missing.