TV chef arrested in Brazilian art heist
Last Updated: Thursday, January 24, 2008 | 5:59 PM ET
The Associated Press
A former television chef who was a suspect in last month's brazen theft of paintings by Pablo Picasso and Candido Portinari in Brazil turned himself in on Thursday, authorities said.
Moises Manoel de Lima Sobrinho, 25, arrived at the Sao Paulo police department's organized crime unit accompanied by his lawyer.
O Lavrador de Cafe by Brazilian artist Candido Portinari was recovered earlier this month. Three suspects have now been arrested in the heist.
(Sao Paulo Museum of Art/Associated Press)
He was immediately arrested and police said he would be questioned about who ordered the theft of the two valuable paintings from a Sao Paulo museum last month.
A spokeswoman for the Sao Paulo public safety department said Lima Sobrinho is suspected of helping plan the theft.
Lima Sobrinho once briefly hosted a cooking show on a local TV channel.
Picasso's Portrait of Suzanne Bloch and O Lavrador de Cafe by Portinari, an influential Brazilian artist, were stolen on Dec. 20 from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art by three men who used a crow bar and car jack to force open one of the museum's steel doors.
The framed paintings were found on Jan 8., covered in plastic and leaning against a wall in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.
Two other suspects are in custody, one of them an escaped convict. Still at large are the owner of the house where the paintings were found and the person or persons who ordered the heist.
Art experts estimate the value of the Picasso at about $50 million and the Portinari at $5-6 million.
The thieves ignored other important works in the Sao Paulo museum, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Bather with a Griffon Dog, Vincent Van Gogh's L'Arlesienne and Henri Matisse's Plaster Torso and Bouquet of Flowers.
