[MSN] Chilean Student Confesses to Rodin Theft

[msn-list at te.verweg.com]

Chilean Student Confesses to Rodin Theft

SANTIAGO, Chile -- A 20-year-old art student admitted Saturday he stole 
a sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, but the student was 
conditionally freed after claiming he was only testing security at the 
Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts.

Luis Onfray took the sculpture "The Trunk of Adele" from an exhibit at 
the museum Thursday night, but the next day he went to a police station 
saying he had found it in a bush in a park near the museum, according to 
authorities. The statue was not damaged.

Prosecutor Andres Baytelman said that under questioning Onfray admitted 
he took the bronze as part of a plan "to prove the vulnerability of the 
museum."

Onfray, an art student at the University of Arts and Social Science, was 
freed under a recently implemented penal system reform in Chile that 
allows conditional release for suspects while an investigation is ongoing.

Rodin, a French sculptor of the late 19th and early 20th century, is 
best known for his works "The Thinker" and "The Kiss."

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