[MSN] The husband-and-wife owners of a San Francisco art gallery are facing felony charges of grand theft and fraud after they refused to return oil paintings valued at $300, 000, according to police.

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Gallery owners arrested for allegedly stealing French paintings 
- 
Friday, December 1, 2006 


(12-01) 17:53 PST San Francisco (AP) -- 


The husband-and-wife owners of a San Francisco art gallery are facing felony
charges of grand theft and fraud after they refused to return oil paintings
valued at $300,000, according to police.


Thomas Wandlass, 59, and Nancy Wandlass, 57, owners of the Pacific Heights
Gallery, were storing two paintings by Gustave Loiseau and Louis Valtat in a
South San Francisco warehouse when they were confiscated by San Francisco
police.


An unidentified Beverly Hills art dealer hired the couple to sell the
paintings on consignment between July 21 and July 28 of last year, but they
never sold them and refused to return them, according to police Inspector
Gregory Ovanessian.


"The consignment period was seven days. That came and went," he said. "After
a while it was clear they didn't have a buyer at all."


The paintings were returned to their owner.


Nancy Wandlass pleaded guilty in 2002 to reduced charges after being caught
in a similar scheme, Ovanessian said.


Calls placed late Friday to defense lawyers for the couple were not
immediately returned.


The couple were arrested Thursday and released later that day on their own
recognizance. They returned to San Francisco Superior Court on Friday for
their arraignment, Ovanessian said.


URL:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/12/01/state/n175329S00.
DTL