Davagator
05-17-2005, 03:06 PM
There was no one in sight, a guaranteed getaway, and loot worth millions. So it must have seemed all too easy to make off with a high-priced painting from a cargo warehouse at Kennedy International Airport two weeks ago.
Except, the authorities said, for two small details:
1. It was all captured on videotape.
2. The thief apparently left behind a copy of his driver's license.
The stolen painting, a 1982 untitled work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, was recovered last Friday, unharmed, at a trucking company in New Jersey, and the authorities announced yesterday that a driver who worked there was being charged with first-degree larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
The sentence could mean up to 25 years in prison if the driver, Anthony Porcelli Jr., 35, is convicted, said Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney.
"There is constant surveillance at Kennedy by the airlines and the law enforcement," Mr. Brown said. "In this case that surveillance paid off and an important work of art has been recovered."
Mr. Brown said that Mr. Porcelli, who worked for Cace Trucking in Elizabeth, N.J., was making a delivery to a Virgin Atlantic cargo warehouse at 2:30 p.m. on May 4. The oil and acrylic painting, valued at $1.5 million, was sitting on a nearby dock.
Except, the authorities said, for two small details:
1. It was all captured on videotape.
2. The thief apparently left behind a copy of his driver's license.
The stolen painting, a 1982 untitled work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, was recovered last Friday, unharmed, at a trucking company in New Jersey, and the authorities announced yesterday that a driver who worked there was being charged with first-degree larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
The sentence could mean up to 25 years in prison if the driver, Anthony Porcelli Jr., 35, is convicted, said Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney.
"There is constant surveillance at Kennedy by the airlines and the law enforcement," Mr. Brown said. "In this case that surveillance paid off and an important work of art has been recovered."
Mr. Brown said that Mr. Porcelli, who worked for Cace Trucking in Elizabeth, N.J., was making a delivery to a Virgin Atlantic cargo warehouse at 2:30 p.m. on May 4. The oil and acrylic painting, valued at $1.5 million, was sitting on a nearby dock.