DNA on Cover Leads Investigators to Stolen Renoirs in France

Four men have been given preliminary charges in the Sept. 8 theft from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France. Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said DNA on a protective cover abandoned in the escape matched a 29-year-old already under drug-trafficking investigation, and vehicle-tracking showed that suspect and a 41-year-old went to a third man’s home after the theft. The recovered works, Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and Young Woman at the Well, had a combined estimated value of 4.2 million euros ($4.7 million); one suffered a tear and the other slight frame damage. Charges include organized theft and criminal association. Thieves used an electric saw to cut through a fence, entered through the ground floor and cut clips securing four paintings. An alarm sounded and police arrived four minutes later. Bessone said that apparently caused the perpetrators to panic. As they fled, they were unable to take all four paintings and abandoned two of them, which were later found in a protective sleeve. He said arrests were prompted by very strong suspicion that another heist was imminent. Christian Sainte, national director of judicial police, said France is repeatedly targeted by organized criminal groups that carry out theft operations targeting valuable objects that are part of our cultural heritage.