[MSN] Arkansas. Woman Receives 10 Years For Selling Fake Art In Online Auction

[MSN]

Woman Receives 10 Years For Selling Fake Art In Online Auction

By Robin Mero
THE MORNING NEWS
A Pine Bluff woman admitted selling fake Picasso and Salvador Dali artwork
to a Rogers man through eBay and was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison.

Donna Lynn Payne, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft of
property. Benton County Circuit Judge David Clinger ordered her to pay
$10,978 in restitution to Marcus French of Rogers, based on a plea agreement
reached between Deputy Prosecutor Carrie Dobbs and defense attorney Bob
White.

Payne advertised original artwork on eBay in early 2006. She claimed the
first one was a charcoal drawing created by Dali in the 1950s or 1960s,
court documents state.

"My late husband's grandmother owned an antique store that she closed in the
late 1970s, this came from her home in the Gables in Miami and her late
husband was at one time President of Pan American Airlines. She made many
trips abroad buying art and antiques," Payne said in her description of the
piece.

French paid $2,814 to Payne and later bought more artwork, including a large
Indian Ink wash by Picasso and a large Dali painting Payne described as "a
bit naughty." French wired his payments.

In May 2006, an appraiser reported three Dali pieces were fake. He described
the first as a hand-drawn copy of Dali's costume designs for the "Grape
Pickers Ballet." The appraiser said the second was a copy of a Dali print,
"Young Dali with His Father," and suggested someone projected an image of
the original upon a canvas to copy. The third was a similar copy of a mixed
media painting with "no standing or value in the market," court documents
state.

In August, French notified Payne that the pieces and signatures were fake
and asked for a refund. She replied she was "not only shocked but absolutely
sick" with the news and didn't have the money -- but would get it together.
She then stopped responding to his e-mail, and Payne went to police,
according to an affidavit submitted by Arkansas State Police Sgt. Steve
Coppinger.

Court documents state that Payne had a long history of substance abuse and
years of treatment for mental illness. She told a psychiatrist that a man
whom she lived with in Memphis created the pieces and put them on her eBay
account. She was unaware of what he did, wasn't taking her proper
medications and was drinking alcohol at the time, she said.

Payne also claimed she was working with the FBI on counterterrorism issues.
The psychiatrist found she had a mental disease but had the capacity to
recognize illegal behavior and conform her conduct to the law.

Payne has been held in lieu of a $10,000 bond since her January 2007 arrest.
She has credit for 452 days served. Clinger ruled she must serve an eight
year suspended sentence after release from prison and pay $1,420 in fines
and fees. She can seek parole after serving less than two years.

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