A couple of Oceans 11-style passengers on a Carnival cruise ship allegedly stole about $US13,000 worth of art off the Carnival Legend last month.
The cruise left Baltimore, Maryland for Bermuda on September 24 and returned on September 30. Just a few days later, an art auctioneer discovered a number of sculptures were missing from the ship’s art gallery, according to Insider. That’s when investigators viewed CCTV footage and showed the couple walking into the gallery empty-handed and walking out of the room holding objects that reportedly looked like sculptures.
Investigators then found a Facebook profile of the man identified on CCVT. FBI agents noticed a recent photo of him “wearing what appears to be the same white dress shirt, dark-coloured vest, and striped tie” from the ship’s security footage.
From Insider:
A spokesperson with the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland told ABC News the FBI carried out a search warrant and found the sculptures at the couple’s homes in Baltimore. The FBI said in the court documents it was deliberating pressing charges for theft and transportation of stolen goods.
The larger of the stolen sculptures is a piece of artwork by Robert Wyland called “Kiss the Sea,” which the FBI estimates is worth $US6,200. The other sculpture recovered is “Tappin’ the Keys for the Love” by Marcus Glenn, worth some $6,600, the FBI says. Both pieces are small enough to fit in a regular-sized backpack.
The sculptures were apparently on board because Carnival conducts an auction for artwork — like paintings, drawings and sculptures – on every ship, Insider says.
A search warrant filed by the FBI in the District Court of Maryland said authorities were looking into federal charges in regard to the theft and transportation of stolen goods, according to the Independent. As of right now, no one has been charged.
It’s apparently not the first the time FBI has been called in to recover stolen artwork. Just last month, the FBI recovered a 300-year-old painting that was stolen from a German museum in 1945 by a Chicago resident, according to Insider. I can only assume the commotion of 1945 Germany made it an easy heist. Back in 2018, the FBI recovered a painting that had been missing for three decades that was stolen by a man who had ties to a Bulgarian syndicate.
Image: WikiEK via Wikimedia Commons