TCU 360: University employee steals a quarter million dollars worth of pre-Columbian pottery

[TopFrog]

University employee steals a quarter million dollars worth of pre-Columbian pottery​

By Jaida Joyner, Staff Writer

The pre-Columbian antiquities housed in a glass case in Scharbauer Hall don’t just tell stories from ancient times, they also have a pretty good tale from 2001.

Known as the Moorehead collection in honor of the couple who donated them, the pieces were the center of a heist from TCU and a lawsuit regarding their value.

At the time of the theft, the Andean artifacts were housed in the Mary Couts Burnett Library after Donald and Shelley Moorehead donated them in 1997.

Read more at https://tcu360.com/2024/01/17/unive...llion-dollars-worth-of-pre-columbian-pottery/

 

[namollec]

Doesn't show when he was arrested nor any outcome.
Was the theft actually solved?
What's the point of this article?
Is it about the theft or about art fraud?

 

[BrewingFrog]

Doesn't show when he was arrested nor any outcome.
Was the theft actually solved?
What's the point of this article?
Is it about the theft or about art fraud?

"Sometimes you have to just let art flow over you..."

 

[froginaustin]

Doesn't show when he was arrested nor any outcome.
Was the theft actually solved?
What's the point of this article?
Is it about the theft or about art fraud?

Clumsy editing, that just chopped off the end of the article?

Doesn't say if TCU (or an insurance company) is still trying to recover stuff, as far as I noticed.

 

[PurplFrawg]

Clumsy editing, that just chopped off the end of the article?

Doesn't say if TCU (or an insurance company) is still trying to recover stuff, as far as I noticed.

"The suspect David Earl Word was arrested in connection with the theft. Word worked as a temporary painter at the library between 1998 and 2000."

So did the theft occur between 1998 and 2000?

 

[Froglaw]

Muck Face pen name?

 

[KillerFrog InD KitchenSink]

So the theft happened ~25 years ago and they are just now finding out?

 

[The Artist Formerly Known as PhormerPhrog]

I just finished a book titled The Art Thief. It's about this French couple who stole hundreds of pieces of art over a decade. Collection valued at around 2 BILLION. They never sold a piece. Fascinating.

 

[gohornedfrogs]

So the theft happened ~25 years ago and they are just now finding out?

It will be the next Nicholas Cage National Treasure movie.

 

[Limp Lizard]

I just finished a book titled The Art Thief. It's about this French couple who stole hundreds of pieces of art over a decade. Collection valued at around 2 BILLION. They never sold a piece. Fascinating.

Wow. Dumb criminals?

Not as dumb as the guys who burglarized the home of Tony Accardo.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.

 

[FrogCop19]

This is very odd. If this is the case I'm thinking of, I was one of the two officers that went down to Houston to arrest this guy. The lead detective on the case set up a meeting with him, and we grabbed him while we were down there and Houston PD came and picked him up (technically it was their jurisdiction). But, as has been stated, this happened over 20 years ago, so unless there is ANOTHER case of pre-Columbian art that was stolen by a temp painter...yeah, not sure why this is just now becoming a story.

Weird.

 

[Frog Wild]

Wow. Dumb criminals?

Not as dumb as the guys who burglarized the home of Tony Accardo.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Note to self: Don't burglarize a mob boss' house.

 

[The Artist Formerly Known as PhormerPhrog]

Wow. Dumb criminals?

Not as dumb as the guys who burglarized the home of Tony Accardo.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.

No. The guy had an obsession with art and thievery. Stealing was an addiction for him. He finally got too greedy and careless. It's a great tale.

 

[ShadowFrog]

"Sometimes you have to just let art flow over you..."

I saw that film so many times at the dollar theater maybe two or three times a week just before I left for Air Force basic training in 84. Good film, great quote.

 

[AroundWorldFrog]

Pre-Columbian pot would have been more interesting.

 

[ShadowFrog]

Pre-Columbian pot would have been more interesting.

…wouldn’t that be dung by then?

 

[DeFrog]

I just finished a book titled The Art Thief. It's about this French couple who stole hundreds of pieces of art over a decade. Collection valued at around 2 BILLION. They never sold a piece. Fascinating.

Author? Thx!

 

[The TCU Football Jerk]

I just finished a book titled The Art Thief. It's about this French couple who stole hundreds of pieces of art over a decade. Collection valued at around 2 BILLION. They never sold a piece. Fascinating.

A cousin to art theft is art counterfeiting. There are some great books out there on it. It is now guesstimated that around half of modern art by famous artists the world over is fake. The good ones fake provenance, the whole works.

 

[The Artist Formerly Known as PhormerPhrog]

A cousin to art theft is art counterfeiting. There are some great books out there on it. It is now guesstimated that around half of modern art by famous artists the world over is fake. The good ones fake provenance, the whole works.

Thomas Crown Affair

 

[The Artist Formerly Known as PhormerPhrog]

Author? Thx!

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel: 9780525657323 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser....

www.penguinrandomhouse.com