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November 6, 2019 02:49 pm PST

Phone call leads police to $800,000 in stolen art by an artist who believed Jesus was a space alien

Police in Los Angeles said on Tuesday they have recovered some $800,000 worth of stolen prints by the Scottish abstract expressionist and esotericist Benjamin Creme.The LAPD was led to this mysterious stolen art discovery by a phone call, and they ended up finding nearly 1,300 prints in a San Fernando valley home.

That caller, not identified, told LAPD the art work was found in a relatives possessions after she died, and later the family realized the prints were listed in a database of stolen artwork.

The family took the stuff and had it stored in their house for several years when they finally started going through it and discovered the art was stolen, Detective Steven Franssen told the Associated Press. They immediately packed it up and took it to the police station.

From the AP:

The prints, each signed and numbered, include Flame-Coloured Deva, Shakti II and other colorful works by Creme, who in later years became better known for his belief in UFOs and predictions of a second coming of Christ and other messiahs. He died in London in 2016 at age 93.

Franssen said police returned the prints earlier this week to their incredulous owner, lithographer Michael Flaum, who made them. He was extremely shocked when we called, the detective said, chuckling. He didnt even believe it was the police department at first.

Flaum said he discovered the theft one day in 2012 when he went to a locker where he had 2,300 prints stored. He would sell some from time to time to raise money for the artist, who in his later years was spending more time with metaphysical pursuits.

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Original Link: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/i5mDeH4IE84/phone-call-leads-police-to-80.html

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