LONG BEACH : Man Charged in Theft of 350-Year-Old Painting
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A Long Beach man was charged Wednesday with interstate transportation of a stolen, 350-year-old painting by the Flemish master David Teniers the Younger that disappeared six years ago in London.
Charles Lee Crutcher, 45, was ordered held without bail by U.S. Magistrate Charles F. Eick. Crutcher, also known as Charles de Crevecoeur, was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents at a Belmont Shore sports and surf shop where he worked.
FBI officials said they entered the case after Scotland Yard notified them that Crutcher had tried to sell the 8 1/2-by-6-inch oil painting to a London gallery. Crutcher had shipped the painting there, where an art expert recognized it as the one stolen in 1987 from a rival gallery.
The painting, titled “A Peasant Filling His Pipe,” is valued at $150,000.
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