Haul from Hollywood art raids discovered

It was a call the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had been awaiting for 25 years.

An auctioneer from Southern California contacted detectives this summer to say he recognised pictures of stolen items listed on the department’s website; they were works of art hanging in his gallery.

The items in question were stolen from Hollywood’s wealthy residents during a spate of burglaries in 1993. While the LAPD had apprehended two suspects after an international investigation, the stolen items appeared to have disappeared without a trace.

The treasure trove included paintings by Pablo Picasso and his contemporary Joan Miro, as well as antiques such as documents signed by former US presidents Ronald Reagan and Howard Taft.

The tip-off led the LAPD to reopen Operation Demetra in June, drafting in Lieutenant Mel Vergara and detectives from the original Nineties investigation. Captain Lillian Carranza, of the LAPD Commercial Crimes Division, holds a news conference regarding the recovery by police of numerous paintings and other artifacts that were stolen from local residencies in the late 1990s. They followed a trail that led to four search warrants being issued in Los Angeles County and Orange County.

The investigators recovered more than 100 paintings, sculptures, furniture and antique guns and determined that at least some of the art dated back to the Nineties break-ins.

Detectives announced the discovery this week as they attempt to locate the rightful owners.

Captain Lillian Carranza, the LAPD head of commercial crimes, said her officers were working with experts from the J Paul Getty Museum to identify and catalogue each item.

‘‘We are in the process of identifying the specific art, artists and how much it might be worth,’’ she said.

The burglaries saw hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of artwork stolen.

Carranza did not reveal the name of the auctioneer who tipped off her department but said the artwork came to the auction house through a relative of one of the original suspects.

The two suspects were identified as Armenians. One of them, Paul Tobeler, was jailed in 1996 for several years and has since died. Police believe he left the stolen artwork to a relative.

‘‘Did this individual know they were stolen? Did this individual know they were receiving stolen property?

‘‘That’s just part of the investigation that we’re not ready to dive into just yet,’’ she said. – Telegraph Group