$10 Million Art Heist, Knock-Knock Burglars and Pawn Shops, Chef Cooked Wife, Underwear Bandit
September 20, 2012Santa Monica Art Heist: Over $10 Million Worth Of High-End Paintings Stolen From Home
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Somewhere, a burglar is living in luxury after the score of a lifetime. And police are trying to bring his life of bling to an end.
A vacationer recently returned to his home in Santa Monica to find a thief had made off with more than a dozen works of art by the likes of Piet Mondrian and Jasper Johns, five luxury watches with makers like Patek and Breitling, wine, cash and a red Porsche Carrera.
Police said in a statement Wednesday that the take totals more than $10 million. The burglar struck between Sept. 12 at 3 p.m. and Sept. 13 at 8:00 p.m.
Police released pictures of the art, and are offering a $1,000 reward for tips leading to arrests. They gave out no information on possible suspects.
LAPD Busts Pawn Shops with Suspected Stolen Goods
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KTLA) — Police arrested the owners of several downtown pawn shops for allegedly doing business with dozens of “knock-knock burglars.”
The operation is part an ongoing effort by an LAPD task force to stop thieves who break into homes through the back when no one answers their knock at the front door, earning them the name “knock-knock” burglars.
The arrests are an attempt to stem the tide of break-ins on the Westside and the San Fernando Valley.
Two owners were taken into custody without incident at their homes and booked on suspicion of receiving stolen property.
About a dozen others were detained at four pawn shops on Broadway from 6th to 8th streets.
Three of the pawn shops deal in jewelry. The fourth deals in electronics.
The LAPD estimates that crews from as many as 20 different gangs stole goods such as iPads and lap-top computers from about 300 homes in affluent neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley, the Westside, the Hollywood Hills and Glendale.
Under the law, the shops are required to take a thumb print and identification information from those involved in pawning their goods. But Lt. Jim Setzer said those stores took the goods in “very quick transactions” with “no questions asked.”
Los Angeles chef details cooking dead wife on recording played in court
LOS ANGELES – Trial resumes Wednesday for a chef who told investigators he accidentally killed his wife and then cooked her body for four days in boiling water to get rid of the evidence.
David Viens has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 39-year-old wife, Dawn, in late 2009. Her body has never been found.
Jurors on Tuesday heard a recording played in court of Viens telling sheriff’s investigators they couldn’t find his wife’s body because he cooked it until little was left but her skull.
“I just slowly cooked it and I ended up cooking her for four days,” Viens, 49, could be heard saying on the recording.
Viens gave detectives the interview as he lay in a hospital bed in March 2011, after leaping off an 80-foot cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes. Authorities say he jumped after learning he was a suspect in her death.
Viens, whose injuries from the leap have him attending his trial in a wheelchair, said in the interview that he stuffed his wife’s body in a 55-gallon drum of boiling water and kept it submerged with weights.
He said he mixed what remained after four days with other waste, dumping some of it in a grease pit at his restaurant in Lomita, and putting the rest in the trash.
He said the only significant thing left was his wife’s skull, which he stashed in his mother’s attic at her home in Torrance. But a search of the house turned up nothing, nor did an excavation of the restaurant.
On the recording played in court, sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Garcia asked Viens what happened on Oct. 18, 2009, the night his wife disappeared.
Viens said he had noticed money missing from the restaurant he owned and suspected his wife. When he arrived home that night Viens said his wife got angry with him and he forced her onto the floor where he wrapped her up and put a piece of clear duct tape over her mouth.
He said when he awoke four hours later, his wife was dead.
Glendale police seek info on suspected underwear bandit
Glendale police say they believe a man may have been stealing women’s underwear after they caught him with more than a dozen articles of clothing.
Fernando Oureoles, 30, was arrested last week on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine and receiving stolen property for the 14 pieces of women’s underwear, six bras, four pieces of children’s underwear, two women’s bathing suits, two children’s dolls, women’s clothing and 40 pages of magazine pornography, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz told the Glendale News-Press.
Now, police are asking anyone who may have noticed missing clothing to call police.
“He had several stories as to why he was in possession of these things,” Lorenz added.
Officers stopped him about 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 12 when he was walking against a crosswalk. He told them he was headed to his cousin’s home, but couldn’t provide the address, according to police. He allegedly was sweaty and appeared nervous.
During a pat down, police found pornographic photos hidden inside his hat, Lorenz said. When officers searched a backpack and two bags, which contained the underwear, they also found bandage tape, hair conditioner, a knife and a watch, police said.
He told police the women’s clothing and undergarments belonged to his girlfriend, but she told officers she “had no clue” who owned the items and didn’t know why Oureoles was walking around Glendale at that hour, Lorenz said.
Officers discovered methamphetamine hidden in the tongue of his tennis shoes, according to police.
Oureoles pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of possessing methamphetamine. He has entered an 18-month drug diversion program, which requires regular testing to ensure he remains clean, district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison said.
Anyone with information about Oureoles and women’s clothing may call Det. Steve Corrigan (818) 548-3106.
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