Police on the hunt for stolen paintings
One suspect has been arrested but is refusing to talk about the valuable art nabbed from Odon Wagner Gallery
A Yorkville art gallery director is still hoping for the recovery of three valuable paintings stolen from his gallery in early April.
Odon Wagner Gallery director Rafael Wagner says he’s trying to get things back to normal at the gallery, after thieves reportedly broke into the gallery in the early hours of April 7 and grabbed three paintings valued at $73,000.
Police responded to an alarm call at the Davenport and Avenue area gallery and found the storefront window smashed and the paintings gone.
The paintings stolen are “Wild Fields” by Greg Harris, “Still Life With Flowers” by Weidong Wang and “Seated Lady With Fan” by Zhao Kaolin.
“It’s an unprecedented event, we haven’t experienced anything of this sort in our history here,” Wagner said. “So it was obviously shocking, but we’re very busy with things, so we just keep on moving.”
Police have made one arrest, but investigators were still looking for another suspect weeks after the incident.
“That’s what’s important to us is that the property is recovered and the assailants are apprehended.”
On April 20, Aaron Sherman, 43, was arrested and charged with one count each of break and enter commit and mischief over $5,000. He also faces two counts of failing to comply with probation.
Detective Sergeant Dan Nealon with 53 Division described Sherman as a career criminal with over 90 convictions for anything from violent offences to property offences.
Nealon said Sherman has not been cooperative with the police to help to track down the paintings or the second suspect.
While he doesn’t know where the stolen art is, Nealon said there are limited options for the thieves in terms of what they can do with the paintings. “Because of the publicity, it makes it a little more difficult to move them.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5300, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637).
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