Crime & Safety

Stolen Picasso Case Takes Stamford Police to NY, London, California

Police found the failed actor and alleged thief in California, where he had been busted for allegedly stealing a car the day prior to Stamford police searching for him.

 

A homeless California man has been arrested and extradited to Stamford for allegedly stealing a $25,000 Picasso sketch following a year-long investigation that took investigators to galleries in New York and London, Stamford police announced Friday.

The suspect was caught after stealing a car the day prior to Stamford authorities running his information through the National Crime Information Center, police said.

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According to Sgt. Peter DiSpagna, a failed actor who was an acquaintance of an art collector in Stamford stole a sketch from Pablo Picasso's 1938 series of Buste de Femme a la Chaise, which was validated, stamped and registered. The complainant had a number of art pieces in his basement and didn't realize the sketch was missing for approximately 2 years, DiSpagna said.

DiSpagna said the suspect, identified as Terrence Riggins, 48, with a last known residence of Warren St. in Brooklyn, NY, knew the collector while attempting to make it as an actor before falling on hard times. Riggins allegedly ripped the Picasso out of a frame in the complainant's home, causing minor damage to the piece, and selling it to a New York gallery for $1150.

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The New York gallery sold the piece to a London art gallery. When that gallery then sold the piece to a collector in Manhattan for $11,000 in January of 2013, the complainant's brother saw the piece being sold online and alerted authorities.

With the help of Interpol and New York investigators, Stamford police finally tracked down the path the sketch traveled to the New York gallery that originally sold the sketch to London and discovered the owner had the information for Riggins, DiSpagna said. 

When DiSpagna was preparing to submit Riggins information to various authorities and ran it through NCIC, he discovered Riggins had been arrested the day prior, March 11, on charges that he stole a car in California, where he moved after not making it in New York as an actor. 

Riggins waived extradition rights and was picked up by Stamford authorities Wednesday of this week and brought to Connecticut Thursday. He was charged with first-degree larceny and held on a $20,000 bond.

DiSpagna said the sketch would not be returned to the original complainant as the piece had legitimately changed hands a number of times following the alleged theft. Riggins, should he be found guilty, would eventually be responsible for the cost of the sketch to the original owner.

 


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