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Santa Monica financier gets back $10M in stolen art
Paintings by Piet Mondrian, Joseph Cornell and Jasper Johns are some of the items police say were stolen from a Santa Monica home last week. Detective work recovered the art at a car stereo shop, but a stolen luxury car and other items are still missing.
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Courtesy of Santa Monica Police Department
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Santa Monica financier gets back $10M in stolen art
Santa Monica and Pasadena police arrested two people in the San Gabriel Valley in connection with the theft two weeks ago of high-profile art, a sports car, wine, and watches from the Santa Monica home of financier Jeffrey Gundlach.
Police in Pasadena received a tip this week that led them and Santa Monica police to the Al & Ed’s car stereo shop on Rosemead Boulevard where thieves had stashed some of the art. Police recovered the rest in homes in Glendale and San Gabriel.
Detective Don Hrycyck, who heads the LAPD’s art theft detail, helped Santa Monica police. He said this art theft holds lessons for anyone with valuable art at home.
“To have an alarm system on the house - if somebody isn’t there, then the alarm should be on. Have good documentation on the art work where you have great photographs, you have a good description,” he said.
The artworks’ owner had offered a $1.7 million reward for the return of paintings by Piet Mondrian, Jasper Johns, Richard Diebenkorn and others. There’s no word yet on whether anyone’s claiming the reward. Santa Monica police said they continue to investigate the involvement of other possible suspects in the burglary, and they're still trying to locate the other stolen property.
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