[MSN] Programs put cuffs on art bandits.

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Programs put cuffs on art bandits
By David Pepose
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 22, 2006 


Thanks to such films as "Ocean's Twelve," "Entrapment" and "The Thomas Crown
Affair," the crime of art theft conjures images of catlike thieves staging
elaborate, suspenseful heists. 
    These archcriminals are rarer than Hollywood would admit, but art theft
still is very real. Combating it is the mission of the FBI's Art Theft
Program, based in the District. 
    "I've never run across [a thief] who looked like Pierce Brosnan," says
Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, manager of the FBI's Art Theft Program. "They're
pretty ordinary." 
    Contrary to popular belief, she says, U.S. art thieves are "usually
breaking-and-entering burglars," stealing more from warehouses and private
homes than museums and art galleries. 
    The latter, explains Kathleen Kennedy, senior underwriter at AXA Art
Insurance Chicago, are protected by "pressure pads, motion detectors,
break-glass sensors and sound sensors." 
    According to Mrs. Magness-Gardiner, the Art Theft Program is composed of
the National Stolen Art File and the Art Crime Team. 
    The Stolen Art File, which was created in 1979 and uploaded
electronically in 1997, helps compile stolen art and pieces of cultural
value. "[Art] doesn't have a serial number," says Mrs. Magness-Gardiner, who
is an archaeologist by training. "So it couldn't be put into any other
database." 
    Because very few easily recognizable works are stolen from U.S.
collections, the Stolen Art File also helps officials identify whether a
found piece in question is the stolen work of art. 
    The Art Crime Team -- the operative arm of the program -- was created in
2004. The unit recovered more than 100 items worth more than $50 million in
its first year alone, including Rembrandt's self-portrait, which had been
stolen at gunpoint in Sweden, and more than 100 paintings worth more than $3
million that had been stolen from a Florida warehouse. 
    Other recent cases solved by the Art Crime Team include last month's
recovery of Teddy Roosevelt's San Juan Hill pistol and eight cylindrical
seals looted from Iraqi archaeological sites, which were recovered and
returned in February 2005. 
    "Each agent is given a specific territory. ... There's a West Coast,
Upper Midwest, East Coast," Mrs. Magness-Gardiner says. "Each agent heads
the investigation for art crimes. ... He's a resource for other agents who
are trying to investigate art theft and fraud." 
    One of those agents is special agent James P. Wynne, who has worked with
the Major Theft Squad in New York City since 1987. According to Mr. Wynne,
"It's more likely ... that thefts come from people on the inside." 
One of Mr. Wynne's favorite cases involved "a diary in Malcolm X's pocket
when he was killed [that] was being sold in California" by Manhattan Supreme
Court clerk Douglas Henderson in 1999. 
    "It was supposed to be in the Supreme Court's evidence vault," Mr. Wynne
recalls of the attempted auction of the diary. "The first thing I had heard
about it was in the New York Times." 
    Mr. Wynne also helped crack the 1991 case of Daniel Cevallos-Tovar, who
stole more than 280 rare alchemy books while researching at Yale and
Harvard. 
    "He was trying to be a practicing alchemist," Mr. Wynne says, until "his
apartment was struck by lightning," resulting in a fire that the fire
department had to put out. 
    Because of water and chemical damage, "all of his property was moved to
a storage facility," Mr. Wynne says. "He paid the rental fees for a while --
and then he ended up stopping." 
    The unwitting storage facility tried to recoup its losses by selling the
books. It was only because a buyer noticed unmarked bookplates that Mr.
Wynne was on the case, ending with the recovery of the texts and
Cevallos-Tovar's guilty plea. 
    Mrs. Magness-Gardiner says the Art Crime Team's operations range from
"straight investigative techniques" to undercover "sting" operations, such
as the recovery of the Rembrandt from a gang of robbers in Copenhagen. 
    She explains that art theft's appeal is "there are no established title
registration systems for works of arts." She adds that "it's easier to get
away with it than in other fields because there are no serial numbers. Many
people buy stolen art without being aware that it's stolen." 
    Mrs. Magness-Gardiner adds that "you could try to sell it electronically
on the Internet, at a flea market, at a dealer, at an art house." 
    The only places that have any sort of safeguards against stolen art
moving along to another owner are museums; pawnshops, which, according to
Brian Diener of the District's Diener Jewelers, are "usually monitored ...
[and] governed by the District of Columbia police department"; and high-end
auction houses, such as Sotheby's. 
    "Art doesn't devalue over time the same way a cell phone or a computer
might," Mrs. Magness-Gardiner says. "It might be worthwhile to keep it in
storage over a period of time." 
    Because criminals will lie low to avoid the statute of limitations for
art theft and possession of stolen property, she adds, "the pieces will
disappear from the market for 20 to 30 years, by which time, the person from
whom they originally stole it might be deceased and the heirs wouldn't even
know they owned it." 
    Other times, when a stolen piece of art goes public, such as being
auctioned or held in a museum, it can lead to a dispute over the piece's
rightful ownership, such as the recent controversy surrounding the Getty
Museum, which returned two ancient works to Greece on July 10. 
    Mrs. Magness-Gardiner urges victims of art theft to call the police
immediately and also register their stolen art with the civilian-accessible
Art Loss Register. 
    Mr. Wynne agrees, saying that failure to register art immediately could
result in dealers, finding no match on the Art Loss Register, selling the
artwork to an unwitting buyer or another dealer, who is "even more
comfortable" because the work has come from a fellow dealer. 
    Ms. Kennedy adds that it is "critical" for art owners to have "an
updated, detailed list with photographs of all their artworks" in multiple
locations and easily accessible. 
    "Due diligence is really critical when you're purchasing cultural
property in the U.S. You need to check out the registry to make sure it
isn't a stolen work of art; you need to find out the last owner and the
owner before that," Mrs. Magness-Gardiner adds. 
    Still, Mrs. Magness-Gardiner says, catching a thief is not as glamorous
as the movies show. 
    Asked if Hollywood's view of art theft is more fantasy than fact, she
sighs with only slight aggravation. "Yes," she says. "That is an
exaggeration." 

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