[MSN] Guilty verdict in art theft. Police foiled heist from Carmel gallery in May.

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Guilty verdict in art theft 
Police foiled heist from Carmel gallery in May 
By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY 
Herald Salinas Bureau
Monterey County Herald 
Article Last Updated: 
 
Massage oil and an issue of The Monterey County Herald proved the undoing of
one of a trio of Ukrainian art thieves accused in the heist of a painting
from a Carmel gallery in May. 
Judge Richard Curtis found Victor Ivaschenko guilty Thursday of one felony
count of receiving stolen property after Carmel police detectives testified
they found the stolen canvas in the trunk of his car. The painting,
"Sailor's Delight' by Russian master Eugene Garin, worth $39,500, had been
sliced from its large frame. 

Ivaschenko testified he was an unwitting participant who waited in his car
while his two companions reportedly went to visit relatives. He claimed he
did not know that one of his co-defendants placed the canvas in the trunk of
his car. 

But Curtis said a half-empty bottle of massage oil and an issue of The
Herald showed otherwise. 

Carmel police detectives testified that they responded to a call of an alarm
sounding at the Simic New Renaissance Gallery on San Carlos Street about
midnight May 7. First on the scene, officer Rachelle Lightfoot encountered
Vadir Shavlosky and Anatoliy Melnik running up the stairs from the gallery's
basement. They were arrested at gunpoint. 

At the rear of the gallery, Lightfoot said, she found a copy of The Herald's
May 7 D section pasted to a window with some type of oil. Evidence showed a
blunt object had been struck against the center of the paper in an effort to
break the window. 

Detective Jesse Juarez arrived at the scene shortly afterward. A search of
Shavlosky and Melnik had turned up no car or hotel keys, leading Juarez to
conclude there must be a third participant. A survey of the neighborhood
about 2 a.m. turned up Ivaschenko, reclining in the driver's seat of his
Toyota Camry, parked around the corner on 6th Avenue. 

On the passenger seat were the A , B and C sections of The Herald. In the
trunk was a partially used bottle of massage oil, burglary tools and
"Sailor's Delight." 

Lightfoot testified that Ivaschenko told her Shavlosky had convinced him to
drive to Carmel because he needed to see a relative. Melnik came along for
the ride. All three men are from the Sacramento area. 

Arriving in Carmel between 4:30 and 5 p.m., Ivaschenko told her, Shavlosky
told him to park near a Shell station on San Carlos and left. He then
returned to the car and asked Melnik to help him. 

The two left Ivaschenko again. When they returned, Lightfoot said Ivaschenko
told her, Shavlosky showed him the canvas and bragged about stealing it. She
said an angry Ivaschenko told Shavlosky it would "bring trouble on them." 

Ivaschenko testified he never made the statement and didn't know what
Shavlosky put in his trunk. He said the trio left San Carlos and went to the
beach. After having dinner later that night, Shavlosky said he wanted to
return and see if his relatives were home. He told Ivaschenko to park on 6th
Avenue, left the car and then, again, returned to get Melnik's help. 

The two men left, Ivaschenko said, and he fell asleep in the car only to be
awakened by Juarez at 2 a.m. He said the newspaper on his front seat was
Shavlosky's and he had no idea how his massage oil, which had been full in
his bag, was half-used and placed in the trunk at that hour. 

Defense attorney Scott Erdbacher asked Curtis to acquit his client, arguing
that Ivaschenko would not have told Lightfoot he saw Shavlosky with the
painting in the evening, when the alarm didn't go off until midnight. Had he
been aware of the burglary plans, he said, Ivaschenko surely would have
driven away when the alarm went off and police arrived. 

But prosecutor David Frost asserted that Shavlosky and Melnik cut the
painting from its 50-inch-by-40-inch frame shortly before the gallery closed
that evening, and then returned at midnight intent on stealing more art,
only to set off the alarm with the strike to the window. 

Ivaschenko had been charged with second-degree burglary, attempted
commercial burglary, grand theft, receiving stolen property, vandalism and
possession of burglary tools. He previously waived his right to a jury and
agreed to a trial before Curtis in return for dismissal of all but the
property charge and a maximum sentence of probation and one year in jail. 

Erdbacher said he will argue for the charge to be reduced to a misdemeanor
when Ivaschenko is sentenced Nov. 9. 

Shavlosky has already pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and grand
theft and will be sentenced Oct. 19. Melnik is in custody in Sacramento on
unrelated charges and awaits prosecution in Monterey County, where he has
pleaded innocent to the charges. 



Virginia Hennessey can be reached at 753-6751 or
vhennessey at montereyherald.com.