[MSN] GPS tracker in truck helps police recover millions in stolen artwork

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GPS tracker in truck helps police recover millions in stolen artwork

By Leon Fooksman and Chrystian Tejedor 
South Florida Sun-Sentinel 
Posted May 3 2006, 10:45 PM EDT 

 
Authorities in Gainesville recovered the $1.5 million in artwork and
furniture that went missing in April when a driver hired to haul the goods
from Boca Raton to New York City allegedly absconded with the loot.

Alachua County sheriff's deputies and Gainesville police on Wednesday
arrested the truck's driver, Patrick McIntosh, in the Arredondo Farms
trailer park near Gainesville, said sheriff's Sgt. Chad Scott.
 
David Jones Fine Art Services hired McIntosh, 36, who surrendered peacefully
about 9 p.m. after authorities surrounded the trailer, to drive the 24-foot
Budget rental truck loaded with furniture, photos, sculptures and rare
Milton Avery paintings to New York on April 18.

He was supposed to pick up more art in Naples but never showed. On the day
he was reported missing, authorities noticed that David Jones' company
credit cards were used to withdraw $200 in Fort Pierce and another $600 was
taken out in Gainesville the next day.

As deputies cuffed McIntosh, Gainesville police recovered the truck and the
artwork about three miles away from the Arredondo Farms trailer park, said
Palm Beach County sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera.

Authorities tracked the truck to that location because it was equipped with
a GPS tracker, Barbera said.

McIntosh was booked into the Alachua County Jail on a grand theft and grand
theft auto charges. He will be taken to Palm Beach County to answer for
those charges.

Earlier on Wednesday another person reported that artwork they paid the
David Jones Fine Art Services to ship from Boca Raton to New York never
showed.

Richard Coplan paid David Jones Fine Art Services to ship a $14,000 painting
from Boca Raton to Sotheby's auction house in New York.

Coplan, a private art dealer, is one more person who said his artwork was
shipped with Jones' company only to find that it never reached its
destination.

Coplan filed a complaint with the Boca Raton police on Tuesday, contending
that Jones was supposed to ship his limited edition print of Tom
Wesselmann's Still Life With Petunias in December. The piece was supposed to
have been auctioned in April, he said. But days before the auction, Coplan
said he found out from Sotheby's that the painting never arrived.

"I just want my painting back," said Coplan, 63, who lives west of Boca
Raton.

David Jones said he contracted with Easthampton, Mass.-based DAX to drive
Coplan's piece to New York.

"This is much ado over nothing," Jones said.

Sotheby's representatives were unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Josh Phillips, owner of DAX, said he is trying to find paperwork to
determine whether his company ever took possession of the artwork. Until the
paperwork is produced, he said he can't be sure his company had the piece.

Before realizing his painting was missing, Coplan recommended to his cousin,
Nina Nathanson, that she pay Jones to move her mother's family photos,
antique chest, and silver serving pieces from Boca Raton to Manhattan. That
shipment was on the truck that disappeared.

"I'm devastated over this," Nathanson said. "These items were priceless.
Money can't replace them. My mother wanted me to hand down all this to my
children."

Nathanson said Jones told her that he would be on the truck making the
shipment. But Jones, 63, said his back hurt and couldn't make the trip.

The missing truck had artwork from about 15 collectors, investigators said.
Among them was the Irving Gallery of Palm Beach, which confirmed that it had
at least one item on the truck but didn't identify it.

Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman at sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647.