[MSN] Stolen million dollar painting recovered

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Stolen million dollar painting recovered

(Waterford-WTNH, Nov. 9, 2006 8:15 PM) _ When an antique shop owner in Old
Saybrook bought a collection of paintings for one hundred dollars she had no
idea it would attract international attention. A painting of flowers which
sold at auction for one million dollars is now part of a police
investigation.

by News Channel 8's Tina Detelj 
The painting is an original by Henri Fantin-Latour. Painted in 1877, it
recently sold at auction for $1.2 million.

"This is by far the largest larceny investigation," Det. John Davis,
Waterford Police, said.

So how did this expensive oil on canvas end up at the Waterford police
station? Det. Davis says it started with Niantic Handyman Charles McDougal.
Davis says McDougal stole it from a home in Waterford and then sold it to an
Old Saybrook antique shop for about a hundred bucks.

The owner did not want to talk about the painting out of respect for its
owner. Police though tell us it was a Milford auctioneer who recognized its
value and sold the hot artwork to someone in The Netherlands for a cool
million. 

The reason this painting was able to make it all the way to The Netherlands
is because no one even realized it was stolen. It was taken in May, but the
owner didn't report it until September. He had been out of the country, but
when he got back he went to police. 

Through some online detective work Davis was able to track it down.

"That search returned about 72 pages with twelve images per page," Det.
Davis said.

It only took a couple of days.

"I was amazed and when I told my sergeant, Sgt. Hurley, he didn't believe
me."

Davis then traced this high priced theft back to a small time crook who may
have had no idea what he had his hands on.

 Police say the Internet was the key to cracking the case. Without it they
never would have been able to track down the painting.

http://www.wtnh.com/