San Francisco : Police has arrested a man accused of stealing a valuable Picasso drawing from a gallery in San Francisco had about $500,000 (£310,000) worth of other stolen artwork in his apartment.
Mark Lugo, 30, a sommelier, was arrested over the theft of a 1965 Picasso drawing, "Tete de Femme" from the Weinstein Gallery on July 5.
A man wearing dark glasses snatched the work of art, worth around $200,000 (£124,000,) from a wall and escaped by hopping in a taxi.
Following his arrest officers raided Lugo's home in Hoboken, New Jersey where they found another Picasso drawing worth $350,000 (£217,000) that had been reported stolen from the Carlyle Hotel in New York. There were also half a dozen other works of art.
New Jersey Police Detective Sergeant Edwin Pantoja said: "The Picasso was hanging on his wall. The others were displayed all over his apartment. He had a nice little gallery going on." Lugo, a wine expert, was arrested in the wine growing area of Napa, California, where "Tete de Femme" was found undamaged and unframed.
His lawyer Douglas Horngrad said the alleged crimes appeared to be the work of someone in the midst of a compulsive episode "rather than an art thief who is sophisticated enough to know how to a fence a Picasso." He said Lugo, who is being held on $5 million (£3.1 million) bail, intends to plead not guilty.
Surveillance video from a restaurant opposite the San Francisco gallery had shown a man matching Lugo's description walking by with a piece of framed artwork covered by a newspaper under his arm, police said.
Hey i think this thief is not Bad, i mean he must has stolen it for his collection and not to sell it...
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