Stolen Picasso Takes Stamford Police to CA, NYC, UK

Following a year-long investigation that took investigators to galleries in New York and London, Stamford police announced Friday that a homeless California man has been arrested and extradited to Stamford for stealing a $25,000 Picasso sketch.

The suspect was caught after stealing a car the day before Stamford authorities ran a search for him through the National Crime Information Center, police said.

According to Sgt. Peter DiSpagna, a failed actor who was an acquaintance of an art collector in Stamford stole the sketch from Pablo Picasso's 1938 series of Buste de Femme a la Chaise, which was validated, stamped and registered.

The victim had a number of art pieces in his basement and didn't realize the sketch was missing for about two years, DiSpagna said.

DiSpagna said the suspect, identified as Terrence Riggins, 48, with a last known residence of Warren Street in Brooklyn, NY, knew the collector at a time when Riggins was trying to make it as an actor before falling on hard times.

Riggins allegedly ripped the Picasso out of a frame in the complainant's home, causing minor damage to the piece, and sold it to a New York gallery for $1,150.

The New York gallery sold the piece to a London art gallery. When that gallery then sold the piece to a collector in Manhattan for $11,000 in January of 2013, the complainant's brother saw the piece being sold online and alerted authorities.

With the help of Interpol and New York investigators, Stamford police finally tracked down the path the sketch traveled to the New York gallery that originally sold the sketch to London and discovered the owner had the information identifying Riggins as the seller, DiSpagna said. 

When DiSpagna was preparing to submit Riggins information to various authorities and ran it through NCIC, he discovered Riggins had been arrested just one day before, on March 11, on charges that he stole a car in California, where he moved after failing to make a living as an actor in New York. 

Riggins waived extradition rights and was picked up by Stamford authorities Wednesday. They brought him to Connecticut Thursday. He was charged with first-degree larceny and held on a $20,000 bond.

DiSpagna said the sketch would not be returned to the victim as the piece had legitimately changed hands a number of times following the theft. Riggins, if found guilty, could be responsible for the cost of the sketch to the original owner.

Editor's note: This article originally was published by Stamford Patch.