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A reward of 200,000 USD (107,712 GBP) has been offered for information that leading to the return of 12 paintings (nine pictured) by Marc Chagall, Diego Rivera, Kees van Dongen and other masters which were stolen from a home in California's San Fernando Valley.
Investigators believe a thief entered the home near Ventura Boulevard and the 405 Freeway on the morning of Aug. 23 through an unlocked side door while the maid was out. Said Los Angeles Police Detective Donald Hrycyk, one of two investigators with the art theft.
The elderly couple who lives in the home were in a different part of the house at the time of the theft and did not hear an intruder. One of the residents is bedridden, and the other was asleep, so neither was aware of an intruder, police said.
The theft occurred after a maid went to the store and left a service door unlocked. In the hour or so the maid was gone, the paintings were taken from two adjacent rooms.
Police have notified auction houses, the FBI and Interpol in case someone tries to sell the paintings.
The stolen paintings are worth millions of dollars. However police and art experts said it would be almost impossible to resell the paintings at anything near their true value. Stolen art is flagged on numerous web sites and police databases.
Detectives have interviewed the maid, who has worked for the couple several years, and several other domestic helpers. No arrests have been made.
The stolen paintings range in value from about 800,000 USD to as much as 4 million USD. It is believed that the most valuable was the Kees van Dongen portrait 'Alicia Alanova' an oil of a woman in a hat dating from 1933.
The artworks were insured by the unidentified couple, who made their fortune in real estate.
Ventura Boulevard
Los Angeles
