Lost & Found: Stolen Rembrandt Sketch Recovered At Encino Church

Rembrandt's "The Judgment." Image from Victor Caballero blog.

Rembrandt's "The Judgment," which vanished from The Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey on Saturday, has been recovered as of Monday night, reports NBC LA. Of all places the stolen artwork, reportedly worth $250,000, could have been stashed, it was located at an Encino church.

A Monday night tip led L.A. County Sheriff's deputies to the valuable sketch, and it does not appear to be damaged.

"It appears they took it off the easel," said Det. Clarence Williams during a news conference on Tuesday morning. "They realized it's going to be very hard to sell because of coverage of this incident."

Steve Whitmore of the sheriff's department believes the drawing was most likely dropped off at the church.

"The object has been retrieved," said Whitmore. "The next step is how did the object get from Point A to Point B?"

Investigators have determined that the suspect swiped the drawing during a 15-minute window while the distracted curator was tending to an art sale. The art thief is still at large.