Support SCS

add my banner to your blog sidebar or website!


Recent Comments

Twitter

Sponsors





Become a Sponsor

Blood Falcons

Nicole Rork Photography

Site search

Archives

Art theft sounds easy


CALIFORNIA — Earlier this week, 30-year-old Mark Lugo flew from his home state of New Jersey to San Francisco because he wanted to steal some art. The Weinstein Gallery was his target. He walked in, took a framed 1965 Picasso drawing off the wall, then walked right out of the gallery and got into a taxi.

He probably would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for a pesky security camera that captured him leaving the gallery with a frame under his arm at the exact same time as the robbery.

Lugo fled to nearby Napa after the theft, but the police tracked him down after impounding the getaway taxi and speaking with witnesses. He was arrested and charged with grand theft and numerous other crimes including burglary, possession of stolen property, and drug possession.

The police recovered the Picasso drawing, titled “Tete de Femme” (Tit of a Woman). It has an estimated value of $200,000, and because of its high value, Lugo’s bail was set to $5 MILLION.

The Weinstein Gallery needs to learn the ancient tradition of screwing a picture frame to a wall, so people can’t just walk away with their stuff again. And the security camera that captured Lugo leaving the gallery didn’t even belong to the gallery — it belonged to the bar next door.


The artwork is practically begging to be taken back to your home and hung above the space heater.

Maybe the bar next door installed the camera because too many people were getting drunk there and then going to the gallery and stealing easily-accessible unguarded masterpieces.

We’ve been misled by movies that show art thieves crawling through air vents and dodging laser beams to steal a famous painting. Apparently, all you’d really have to do is walk into a gallery and take it.

Source: 1

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Write a comment