[MSN] US. 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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DA: Men stole art, burned down house
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 chargedf 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 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.

Prosecutor 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.

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