Romanians admit stealing art works in Netherlands

AAA  Oct. 22, 2013 9:58 AM ET
Romanians admit stealing art works in Netherlands
AP

Eugen Darie, right, and Alexandru Bitu, left, two suspects charged with stealing paintings from a Dutch museum, enter a court building for a hearing in their trial in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. Three Romanians have pleaded guilty to stealing seven paintings, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, from a Dutch museum in a daring daytime raid that shocked the art world. The suspects, Bitu Darie and Radu Dogaru, told the court that they took the multimillion-dollar paintings from Kunsthal Museum in October 2012.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Eugen Darie, right, and Alexandru Bitu, left, two suspects charged with stealing paintings from a Dutch museum, enter a court building for a hearing in their trial in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. Three Romanians have pleaded guilty to stealing seven paintings, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, from a Dutch museum in a daring daytime raid that shocked the art world. The suspects, Bitu Darie and Radu Dogaru, told the court that they took the multimillion-dollar paintings from Kunsthal Museum in October 2012.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Eugen Darie, right, and Alexandru Bitu, left, two suspects charged with stealing paintings from a Dutch museum, enter a court building for a hearing in their trial in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. Three Romanians have pleaded guilty to stealing seven paintings, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, from a Dutch museum in a daring daytime raid that shocked the art world. The suspects, Bitu. Darie, and Radu Dogaru, told the court that they took the multimillion-dollar paintings from Kunsthal Museum in October 2012.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Olga Dogaru, right, the mother of a suspect charged with stealing paintings from a Dutch museum, is escorted into a court building for a hearing in their trial in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. Three Romanians Radu Dogaru, Alexandru Bitu and Eugen Darie, have pleaded guilty to stealing seven paintings, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, from a Dutch museum in a daring daytime raid that shocked the art world. In their depositions to prosecutors, the suspects said they brought the paintings to Romania, tried to sell them on the black market, then left them with Olga Dogaru, the chief suspect's mother.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Eugen Darie, a suspect charged with stealing paintings from a Dutch museum, enters a court building for a hearing in their trial in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. Three Romanians have pleaded guilty to stealing seven paintings, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, from a Dutch museum in a daring daytime raid that shocked the art world.The suspects, Radu Dogaru, Alexandru Bitu and Eugen Darie, told the court that they took the multimillion-dollar paintings from Kunsthal Museum in October 2012.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Three Romanians have pleaded guilty to stealing seven paintings, including works by Picasso, Monet and Matisse, from a Dutch museum in a daring nighttime raid that shocked the art world.

The suspects, Radu Dogaru, Alexandru Bitu and Eugen Darie, told a Bucharest court on Tuesday that they took the multimillion-dollar paintings from Kunsthal Museum in October 2012.

The works have never been found.

In their depositions to prosecutors, the suspects said they brought the paintings to Romania, tried to sell them on the black market, then left them with Olga Dogaru, the chief suspect's mother.

She told investigators she burned the paintings, and a Romanian museum said that ash found in a stove at her home contained paint, canvas and nails. But she later denied that her story was true.

Associated Press



Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-22-AP-EU-Romania-Netherlands-Art-Heist/id-bddaf41f9d5c4fc9a402505efff82c9d
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