[MSN] US. Picasso etchings stolen from Bellevue art gallery

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Picasso etchings stolen from Bellevue art gallery
Jul 12, 2007 at 6:22 PM PDT
By KOMO Staff

Police released this security camera image of the woman wanted in connection with the thefts.
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BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Police here are asking for the public's help locating three people who stole two original Picasso etchings from a Bellevue art gallery on Wednesday.

Police spokesman Greg Grannis said the two etchings were stolen from Martin Lawrence Gallery in Bellevue Square.

The artworks, "Bacchic Scene with Minotaur" and "Aquatint 26, May 1968," are hand-signed and estimated to be worth about $100,000.

Investigators said a woman distracted the sales clerk while two men walked out with the etchings. Grannis said it happened in about 15 seconds.

"(The woman) took her to the back and says she was buying a gift for her father," said gallery director Ken Behm.

Surveillance footage shows the men directly heading for the two pieces without hesitation. Detectives believe the men may have scouted the gallery earlier, dismantling security.

"The first guy took one and the second guy took one on a wire that hangs here and went right out the door with it," Behm said.

"It's not a super-sophisticated Hollywood type of heist, but certainly well-planned," said Det. Greg Bean.

The works have been added to the international registry of stolen art and police are searching for the thieves.

"They will forever be listed in the stolen art registry," Bean said.

Behm said no reputable art dealer would buy the stolen artworks.

They don't have the accompanying documentation that's needed to justify the print. So it's like a car without a title. You can drive it until you get caught," he said.

Last November, a man twice tried to steal a $13,000 sculpture from the Martin Lawrence Gallery, then known as the Kenneth Behm Art Gallery.

The man knocked over the sculpture during both attempts -- more than a year apart -- and aroused the staff's suspicion.
 
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