[MSN] Three men pleaded not guilty Tuesday in connection with the heist of several valuable paintings from a Quiogue mansion, which was subsequently burned down to cover up the theft, prosecutors said.

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newsday.com/news/local/ny-liarso1010,0,5296729.story

Newsday.com
DA: House burned down to cover up art theft
BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO

alfonso.castillo at newsday.com

1:44 PM EDT, October 9, 2007

Three men pleaded not guilty Tuesday in connection with the heist of several
valuable paintings from a Quiogue mansion, which was subsequently burned
down to cover up the theft, prosecutors said.

Patrick Padden, 50, of Westhampton, was charged with burglary, grand larceny
and arson. He was held on $225,000 cash or $500,000 bond. Ronald Jiminez,
58, of Hampton Bays, was charged with second-degree criminal possession of
stolen property and was released on $100,000 bond. Another co-defendant,
Vincent Scheraldi, was charged with conspiracy and was released without
bail.

A fourth suspect, Brian Marbach, 18, of Hampton Bays, is expected to be
arraigned Wednesday on stolen property possession and conspiracy charges.

Prosecutors said Padden, a construction contractor, was hired as the
caretaker for the 11,000 square foot Quiogue estate of Jerry Levin while the
$6 million home was undergoing renovations in 2006. Levin is the former
chief executive officer of the Coleman camping equipment company.

While watching the home, Padden and another co-defendant, James Schmidt,
stole various camping gear items from the home, and later discovered that
several paintings were kept there, prosecutors said. The two men brought one
of the paintings to Jiminez and Marbach, who learned that it was worth
several thousand dollars and sent Padden and Schmidt back to the house to
steal some more, prosecutors said.

In total, the two men allegedly stole 11 paintings, worth more than $500,000
in total. One painting alone by artist Jean Metzinger was valued at
$420,000.

Prosecutors said that after stealing the items, Padden returned to the home
in the early morning hours of February 1, 2006 and set it on fire -
destroying it along with about $1million in other paintings inside.

Prosecutors said that after stealing the art, the suspects enlisted
Scheraldi to help sell them. Scheraldi sent photos of the paintings to
several art galleries, including one Manhattan gallery that originally sold
one of the paintings to Levin and had been working with an insurance company
regarding Levin's house fire. The gallery alerted the FBI, which, along with
Suffolk's Major Case Investigations Unit, was investigating the case.

Schmidt has already pleaded guilty to burglary charges and is cooperating
with prosecutors.

Padden potentially faces more than 15 years if convicted on all charges.
Padden's attorney, Thomas Lavallee of Hauppauge, blamed Schmidt for the art
heist, and said his client had nothing to do with it.