[MSN] Hawaii, Quarter Million Dollars Worth of Artwork Recovered

[MSN]

 Quarter Million Dollars Worth of Artwork Recovered  	
Written by Sabrina Hall - shall at kgmb9.com   
March 15, 2008 04:02 PM

	 
"They entered here over the balcony," said Jean-Louis.

It was in the middle of the night, when police say burglars crept into their
hotel room. Jean-Louis Fradet and Marie Christina Auloy were sleeping at the
Breakers on Beachwalk. They woke up in the morning to find clothes thrown on
the floor.

"Then I noticed my purse was gone," said Auloy. "Then I thought 'something
really must have happened' because I knew exactly where my purse was--next
to my bed."

Also gone, their keys and their rental car containing two cases of artwork
worth $250,000 dollars. It's the future of Hawaii's aloha attire, 400
patterns and prints, many that will one day be in local stores like Hilo
Hattie, Reyn Spooner and Tori Richards. Jean-Louis is an artist.

"It was six months of work for a team of maybe ten people," said Fradet.
"And we support maybe 3,000 people working for the textile industry here."

"They were just so upset when I met them," said Jessica Lani Rich, of the
Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii.

With their artwork gone, the Tahitian couple sought help from VASH. The
organization helps tourists in distress.

"The visitors were in my office at the time when I got a phone call from
Pearl City police that they had found the car, and not only had they found
the car, but they also found two suitcases that had the design art in it,"
said Rich.

Four hundred hours worth of work was found in the stolen car abandoned in
Pearl City. Marie and Jean-Louis are relieved to have this almost happy
ending.

"All the other stuff is still missing so I have no passport, no drivers
license, my plane ticket is gone, all the credit cards are gone, all the
cash, his jewelry, the cameras," said Auloy.

"Not much hope for those things?" asked Reporter Sabrina Hall.

"No," said Auloy.

And sources say the Sherriff's Division found Jean-Louis' empty wallet in
the stolen rental car, as well as drug paraphernalia, children's items and
other stolen credit cards.