One of the two stolen paintings that police recovered Wednesday is so badly damaged it‘s unsalvageable.
Stewart Turcotte, owner of Hambleton Galleries, says the top corner of the oil painting Opportunist is chipped off, the frame is gone and more than 100 scratches from broken glass have damaged its surface.
“It‘s really scratched up. It was directly behind the glass they broke. They hit the window with something big and heavy,” Turcotte said.
The painting, by Canadian Christopher Walker, was worth $15,000 before thieves stole it and an acrylic painting by Carl Schlademan, worth $5,500.
Tiny scratches have marred the Schlademan painting but they can be repaired, said Turcotte. To infill the scratches on the Walker painting would be “virtually impossible,” he said. He‘ll likely file an insurance claim to cover its value.
Still, Turcotte is commending the RCMP for locating the paintings. Police arrested four people and seized thousands of dollars worth of firearms, stolen electronics, snowboards and motorcycles from 826 Leon Ave. Wednesday afternoon.
Acting on a tip, police raided the house with a search warrant.
They confiscated a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun, five pellet handguns, small and big-screen televisions, guitars, amplifiers, desktop and laptop computers, jewelry, power tools, dozens of cellphones, dozens of iPods, coin collections, more than $1,000 in cash and a small amount of methamphetamine.
They also seized three new snowboards, a dirt bike, two mini motorcycles, three dirt-bike helmets and a sunglasses showcase.
Two of the four arrested were later released. Austin William Murray, 29, and Alexander Dino Tanasescu, 26, are remanded in custody. Both are charged with possession of stolen property, weapons and drug offences.
Investigators have matched some of the stolen goods with a local skateboard store and believe several computers were pilfered in recent business break-ins. They‘ll need several days to determine where the other property came from, said Sgt. Ann Brinnen.
Police have yet to determine whether the home was used for fencing stolen goods or belonged to those who committed the break-ins, she said. Top of Page
