The case of a stolen Picasso has been cracked — and police say it was a New Jersey man who walked into the gallery in downtown San Francisco, snatched the drawing and fled in a taxi.
Police arrested Mark Lugo, 31, on Wednesday at an apartment in Napa and found the artwork stripped from its frame. The 1965 pencil-on-paper drawing — titled Tete de Femme — was purchased at a spring auction in New York. It’s worth about US$250,000.
“I’ve had some sleepless nights,” said Rowland Weinstein, owner of the Weinstein Gallery. “I feel very, very lucky and very relieved that the Picasso wasn’t harmed and will be returned back safely.”
Lugo faces burglary, grand theft and drug charges and is being held on US$5 million bail. He had been San Francisco since Monday and was visiting friends, police chief Greg Suhr said.
Lugo’s arrest comes a day after surveillance video released from a nearby restaurant showed a man matching his description walking by with a piece of framed artwork covered by a newspaper under his arm.
Investigators believe Lugo was working alone and likely planned to ship the artwork to an unknown party.
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