Latest news with #arttheft
CBS News
14 hours ago
- CBS News
More than $2 million in sculptures stolen from Anaheim warehouse, police say
Two sculptures valued at a combined $2.1 million were taken from an Anaheim warehouse last week, according to police. It happened sometime before June 9, Anaheim police told CBS News Los Angeles. They say that the owner of the business locked up two days earlier on Saturday, and by the time he returned that Monday, two statues were taken. The two statues, created by Sir Daniel Winn, that were stolen from a warehouse in Anaheim. Masterpiece Publishing Each of the pieces of artwork, created by Sir Daniel Winn, are said to stand over eight feel tall and weigh thousands of pounds. One of the two is estimated to be worth $1.8 million, while the second statue is said to be worth $200,000. Police say that due to the size of the sculptures, they believe the suspects possibly used a forklift to remove them from the warehouse. Because the building was unmarked and there was no indication that the statues were inside, police also believe that the suspects knew they were there. They were the only two pieces taken from inside of the warehouse, which was also storing other artwork, they said.
Malay Mail
6 days ago
- Malay Mail
Luxury loo larceny: Two men jailed for ‘bold and brazen' US$6m gold toilet heist at Churchill's birthplace
LONDON, June 14 — Two men were jailed yesterday for stealing an 18-carat golden toilet that had been on display as an artwork in an exhibition at Winston Churchill's birthplace. The fully functioning toilet, a work titled America by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was stolen from the Churchill family seat of Blenheim Palace in southern England, a major tourist attraction and Unesco World Heritage Site. Prosecutor Julian Christopher told jurors at the start of the trial at Oxford Crown Court in February that a group of five men had driven two stolen vehicles through locked wooden gates into the palace grounds before dawn on September 14, 2019. They broke in through a window, smashed down a wooden door, ripped the toilet from the wall and left after five minutes in the building. The toilet, weighing 98 kilos was insured for US$6 million (RM25 million). Prosecutors say it was probably divided into smaller amounts of gold to sell it off. None of the gold has ever been recovered. James Sheen, 40, had pleaded guilty before trial to burglary, conspiring to convert or transfer the gold and converting or transferring the gold. Michael Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary by a jury, having pleaded not guilty. Judge Ian Pringle said the pair had played important roles in the 'bold and brazen heist', though the judge said he could not be sure that Jones was present during the burglary. Sheen was sentenced to four years in jail, with the sentence to begin at the end of a separate jail term of nearly 20 years he is currently serving for a series of thefts. Jones was sentenced to 27 months in prison. — Reuters
RNZ News
7 days ago
- RNZ News
Two men jailed for stealing $10.7 million golden toilet from Churchill's birthplace
The fully functional 'America' toilet made from 18-karat gold opened in the Guggenheim Museum in the United States on 16 September 2016. Photo: AFP Two men have been jailed for stealing an 18-carat golden toilet that had been on display as an artwork in an exhibition at Winston Churchill's birthplace. The fully functioning toilet, a work titled 'America' by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was stolen from the Churchill family seat of Blenheim Palace in southern England, a major tourist attraction and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Prosecutor Julian Christopher told jurors at the start of the trial at Oxford Crown Court in February that a group of five men had driven two stolen vehicles through locked wooden gates into the palace grounds before dawn on 14 September 2019 . They broke in through a window, smashed down a wooden door, ripped the toilet from the wall and left after five minutes in the building. The toilet, weighing 98kg was insured for £4.75 million (NZ$10.7 million). Prosecutors say it was probably divided into smaller amounts of gold to sell it off. None of the gold has ever been recovered. James Sheen, 40, had pleaded guilty before trial to burglary, conspiring to convert or transfer the gold and converting or transferring the gold. Michael Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary by a jury, having pleaded not guilty. Judge Ian Pringle said the pair had played important roles in the "bold and brazen heist", though the judge said he could not be sure that Jones was present during the burglary. Sheen was sentenced to four years in jail, with the sentence to begin at the end of a separate jail term of nearly 20 years he is currently serving for a series of thefts. Jones was sentenced to 27 months in prison. - Reuters
Telegraph
7 days ago
- Telegraph
Thieves jailed over £4.75m gold lavatory raid
Two men have been jailed for their roles in the theft of a £4.75 million gold lavatory from Blenheim Palace. A gang of thieves smashed their way in to the palace and ripped out the fully functioning 18-carat gold lavatory during a raid in 2019. James Sheen, 40, and Michael Jones, 39, were part of the gang who planned and carried out the burglary of the Oxfordshire stately home. The lavatory was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was a star attraction in an exhibition at Blenheim Palace – the birthplace of Winston Churchill. The heist took place hours after a glamorous launch party, and the distinctive loo was split up or melted down and sold soon after it was stolen and has never been recovered. The lavatory was stolen during a five-minute raid by sledgehammer-wielding thieves, Oxford Crown Court heard. They drove through locked wooden gates into the grounds of the palace in two stolen vehicles before breaking in through a window. Entitled America, the lavatory weighed about 216lb, was insured for $6 million (£4.75 million) and was made from gold, which was itself worth about £2.8 million. Sheen, of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, had previously admitted burglary, conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property. Jones, of Oxford, was found guilty of burglary following a trial. Passing sentence, Judge Ian Pringle KC said: 'This bold and brazen heist took no more than five-and-a-half minutes to complete. 'America has never been seen again.' Sheen was jailed for four years and his sentence will run consecutively to the 19 years and four-month sentence he is currently serving for attacks on cash machines, a museum burglary and fraud. 'You were part of the gang of five men who smashed their way into Blenheim Palace that night and stole the hugely valuable golden toilet,' the judge said. 'You were almost certainly the figure that carried the sledgehammer on which your DNA was found and which was used to sever the functioning toilet from its connecting pipes. 'I say straight away I have no doubt at all that the sentence I pass must be consecutive to the sentence you are currently serving. Not to do so would be to send out a message that you did this without any penalty at all.' Judge Pringle jailed Jones for 27 months after concluding he could not be sure he was part of the gang that carried out the burglary. 'You paid visits on two occasions to Blenheim Palace in the days leading up to the burglary,' he said. 'That your role was to carry out a reconnaissance of the museum, to know exactly where the golden toilet was situated and to work out the quickest route in and out of the palace, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever. 'Although you have no witnesses to where you were on the night in question, I cannot be sure that you were part of the group of burglars who broke into the palace that night.'
South China Morning Post
13-06-2025
- South China Morning Post
UK jails men who stole US$6 million golden toilet from mansion
Two men who stole a US$6.4 million golden toilet from an English mansion were sentenced on Friday to more than two years in prison. The 18-carat fully functioning toilet was on display as a piece of contemporary art at Blenheim Palace – the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born – when five burglars smashed a window and yanked it from its plumbing in a brazen early morning raid in September 2019. It was never recovered and was believed to have been chopped up and sold. James Sheen, 40, a roofer who pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy and transferring criminal property was sentenced in Oxford Crown Court to four years in prison. Michael Jones, 39, who worked for Sheen and was convicted of burglary at trial, was sentenced to two years and three months. The toilet weighed just over 215 pounds (98kg) and was worth more than its weight in gold. The value of the gold at the time was £2.8 million (US$3.5 million), but it was insured for £4.7 million. Guests wait for access to the exhibit of Maurizio Cattelan's 'America' a fully functional solid gold toilet, at The Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 2017. Photo: Reuters The toilet was part of a satirical commentary on consumer culture, titled 'America' by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, whose work of a banana duct-taped to a wall was sold in 2024 for US$6.2 million at auction in New York.
