Arrest made in case of stolen Children’s Museum sculptures

Santa Fe police arrested an East Coronado Road resident after an officer found bronze sculptures that had been stolen in August from the Santa Fe Children’s Museum buried in the man’s backyard.

Investigators believe three people were involved in the theft of four artworks from the museum on Old Pecos Trail in the early morning hours of Aug. 24, according to search warrant records released Wednesday.

Police arrested Adrian Bleamer, 40, on Monday on suspicion of receiving stolen property worth between $2,500 and $20,000, a third-degree felony. He did not enter a plea in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court and was released from jail pending a plea hearing, court records show.

Police found two of the four missing bronzes buried behind the home where Bleamer lives, according to an officer’s affidavit for a search warrant. After police arrested Bleamer, records show, they searched the home and found another bronze sculpture in a pantry.

The affidavit says three people were captured on surveillance video taking the artworks at around 2:30 a.m. Aug. 24. No one else has been arrested yet..

Artist Sandy Besser made three of the four stolen sculptures, worth $15,000, according to the affidavit. Her artworks are titled Gray and Yellow Man with No Arms, Boy Playing Penny-whistle and Seated Girl Open Book. The fourth sculpture, Girl on a Teeter Totter by artist Else Chapman is valued at $5,900, according to the affidavit.

A phone message seeking comment from the museum was not returned Wednesday. Attempts to reach Bleamer on Wednesday were unsuccessful.