LOS ANGELES – A 17th-century drawing by Rembrandt was snatched from a private art display at a California luxury hotel while a curator was momentarily distracted, officials said Monday.
The theft of the $250,000 sketch from the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the upmarket seaside community of Marina del Rey happened around 10:30 p.m. Saturday while someone who seemed interested in buying another piece held the curator’s attention for a few minutes.
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“When the curator turned back to the Rembrandt, it was gone,” Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said. It was not clear whether the person talking to the curator was connected to the theft, though Whitman said a team of at least two people was involved.
The 11-inch-by-6-inch sketch, called “The Judgment,” was completed around 1655. Rembrandt von Rijn is widely regarded as one of the finest painters in European art history, and his worldwide name recognition has made his work a common target for thieves.
Artworks tend to surface either very quickly after they are stolen or else disappear into the underworld, where they are traded between criminals at a fraction of their value for drugs and other illicit materials, said Chris Marinello, executive director of the London-based Art Loss Register, an international database of stolen artworks.
Whitmore described the theft as well-executed, “but not executed well enough to get away with,” adding that investigators had several strong leads and that detectives were viewing video surveillance from the hotel.
Actress Tara Reid gets hitched
LOS ANGELES – Tara Reid is a married woman.
The 35-year-old actress announced on Twitter that she was wed over the weekend.
In a post on her official Twitter page Saturday, she wrote, “Just got married in Greece. I love being a wife.” Earlier that day, she tweeted that she was engaged.
Reid wrote in a separate post that her husband’s name is Zack Kehayov.
Reid is best known for her roles in “The Big Lebowski” and “American Pie.”
A call to Reid’s manager Monday was not immediately returned.
Sheen swings bat at … a ball
PHOENIX – Charlie Sheen got some batting practice, then asked for ice for his elbow before an Arizona Diamondbacks-New York Mets game at Chase Field.
Sheen later watched the Sunday game from a suite. Pictures showed his right elbow wrapped with a bandage.
Sheen had a pre-existing elbow injury that flared up, Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall said Monday.
It’s the team’s understanding that Sheen is trying to get back into shape for a possible sequel to the “Major League” movies, Diamondbacks spokesman Casey Wilcox said.
Ex-major league player Todd Zeile had asked if he and Sheen could take batting practice..
Hilary Duff and hockey hubby expecting
LOS ANGELES – Actress Hilary Duff, 23, announced on her website Sunday that she and her hockey-player husband, Mike Comrie, are expecting their first child.
She wrote that she and Comrie celebrated their first wedding anniversary over the weekend, and “we also want to share the exciting news that … BABY MAKES THREE!!!” She said they are “extremely happy and ready to start this new chapter of our lives.”
Duff rose to fame as the star of the Disney Channel’s “Lizzie McGuire” and recently appeared on “Gossip Girl.” Comrie most recently played for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
– From news service reports
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