Records: Museum intruder called police during break-in
DALLAS — Newly released 911 calls obtained by The Dallas Morning News reveal that the man police say broke into the Dallas Museum of Art in June and smashed objects went undetected until he picked up a museum phone and called 911 on himself.
“Hey, I’m in the Dallas Museum of Art,” he told a dispatcher nearly 15 minutes after police say he entered. “Come get me.”
The calls show the museum security force appeared to have no knowledge an intruder was inside the building the night of June 1, even as the man, police say, broke through its glass front door and ambled around three floors. During his rampage, he shattered three Ancient Greek artifacts from the fifth and sixth centuries B.C. and a contemporary Native American artwork, and damaged other property such as display cases, signage and computer equipment, according to police.
The News obtained recordings of the 911 calls and related documents in November after requesting them from police on June 7. Nearly six months later, they provide the clearest picture yet of an extraordinary security failure at Dallas’ art museum, home to works by Picasso, Monet and van Gogh.
Since vowing in June to begin a full audit of its security measures, the DMA, its board and its director, Agustín Arteaga, had been silent about the incident. But in response to the new details being reported exclusively by The News, the museum issued a statement Monday, saying: “As stated in our message to the community in June, we have continued to spend a tremendous amount of time and resources reflecting on and assessing the circumstances surrounding the break-in on June 1. In recognition of the need to take serious action as soon as possible, we committed to hire a third-party consulting firm at that time to review and assess our security measures and facilities. This decision was made to ensure we rely on industry best practices to deter and mitigate similar situations moving forward. We have kept our word and have been working with Chameleon Associates over the last few months to do just that.”
As the only regional art museum with direct ties to a city, it pointed to a need for improvements on two fronts. “The first is continuing to make needed updates to our internal procedures, processes, and standards,” it said.
“The second is working with the City of Dallas to implement critical updates to our facility to deter and prevent such incidents from occurring again. As a Cityowned and operated facility,” the museum said, “closer collaboration with and support from the City of Dallas is vital to our success.”
Laying some blame at City Hall, the DMA went on: “As always, we take our responsibility to preserve and protect our visitors, staff, and the art in our care very seriously. We will do everything within our power to prevent similar situations and look forward to critical collaboration with the City of Dallas on deferred maintenance and other operational issues with our facility.”
The DMA’S top spokeswoman, Aschelle Morgan, said the museum has implemented new practices since the break-in but declined to specify them, citing security concerns. “We will also continue to integrate recommendations from our ongoing work with Chameleon Associates, ” she said. Headed by Israeli military veterans, the California-based firm provides security consulting and training to a range of groups and venues.
The News reached out to current DMA board members Catherine Marcus Rose, former president of the board of trustees, and Cindy Rachofsky for their reaction to the DMA’S response to the break-in. The News also attempted to contact Howard Rachofsky, Cindy’s husband. The pair is one of three who provided the DMA with the multimillion-dollar Fast Forward bequest. So far, none have responded to inquiries.
A spokesman for Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, another board member, referred questions to the DMA.
Police arrested and identified the alleged burglar as Brian Hernandez and charged him with criminal mischief of $300,000 or more, a first-degree felony. The 21-year-old is in jail, held on $100,000 bail. He was indicted on Aug. 18 and is awaiting his next court appearance. His public defender did not respond to a request for comment.
The DMA said in a statement the day after the breakin the intruder was unarmed and “Museum security responded immediately.”
But the 911 calls show that Dallas Police dispatch, which spoke to the alleged intruder on the night of the break-in, was the first to alert museum security someone was inside the building about 17 minutes after he entered and, police said, began his destructive spree.
Police records show 911 received a call from the DMA at 9:58 p.m. that a dispatcher labeled a hangup. One minute later, another call came through. It was about 13 minutes after Hernandez stepped inside, according to police. After telling the dispatcher he was inside the museum, the caller, on the recording provided by police, appeared to quickly hang up.