Second moving company worker accused in $1M theft

A suburban West Palm Beach man has become the second person arrested in the reported theft of rare paintings and other items worth more than $1 million by employees of a company that moved a family to Tequesta from Singer Island.

S t e v e Wy n n s , 2 8 , wa s charged Friday with grand theft exceeding $100,000 and dealing and pawning stolen property. He remained in the Palm Beach County Jail early Wednesday with his bail set at $34,000. Wynns’ co-defendant, Nelson J. Morel, 30, was arrested and charged in the case earlier in May.

The t wo are accused of removing and trying to sell multiple paintings, small furniture pieces, ceramic statues and a rare pen collection, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office report.

In March 2016, the couple had their belongings moved from their Singer Island home to a storage facility operated by All My Sons Moving & Storage while their Tequesta residence was being built. Wynns was an employee at the company from March 2016 to January 2017, according to the report.

When the couple requested several boxes be shipped to their new residence, they noticed many items missing — totaling upward of $1 million, the report said.

An antiques dealer who had sold the couple an easily identifiable ceramic centerpiece found it for sale on eBay and contacted the family to see if it was indeed selling it. The couple then checked the seller’s account and found more stolen items, the report said. The account belonged to Morel, giving police probable cause for his arrest, the report said.

Wynns was implicated in the thefts after a receipt for a transaction with Provident Jewelry in West Palm Beach was found in a search of Morel’s home. After further investigation, police found that he sold the jeweler nearly $10,000 worth of items, including a bronze wall clock, an oil painting, a landscape painting and a painting by the Dutch painter Ludwig Kunz, the report said.

The owner of the jewelry store identified Wynns from a photo lineup and said he usually completed the transactions with three or four other people, one of whom was Morel.

The estimated value of the items returned to the couple from the transactions and the propert y police were able to recover reached nearly $110,000 as of May 25, according to the report.

Wynns i s s c he d u l e d t o appear again in court June 26.