Saturday, May 15, 2010

Feds arrest Granite Falls couple in stolen art ring

May 12, 2010 by All Art News  
Filed under Art Crime & Legal

Granite Falls, Minnesota. — Federal officials arrested a Granite Falls couple this morning they suspect of breaking into homes and stealing prized art work, including an etching by the Dutch master Rembrandt.

The couple and a former art dealer from Seattle allegedly broke into the homes to steal the art and then tried to sell it, said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Seattle.

One buyer was an undercover FBI agent, she said.

Agents recovered numerous stolen paintings and other art work, some missing and believed stolen since 2004. Among the recovered art work was the Rembrandt, two paintings by famed northwest artists Morris Graves and one by Mark Tobey, a renowned American abstract expressionist.

The FBI’s Art Crime Team, formed in response to the looting of Iraqi antiquities during the Iraq War, helped in the investigation.

The Granite Falls couple is expected to appear this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The former art dealer was arrested in Bozeman, Mont.

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Related posts:

  1. Greek Police Arrest Two Men with Valuable Antiquities
  2. 12 Detained in Paris over Stolen Painting
  3. Gold foetus sculpture stolen
  4. Edvard Munch artwork stolen in Norway
  5. Stolen Juan Gris painting recovered by FBI

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