HOBOKEN AND BEYOND – Alleged art thief Mark Lugo allegedly stole more than just one Picasso painting, according to the Hoboken Police Department.
Lugo is the Hoboken resident that was arrested in San Francisco on July 6 and is charged with stealing a $200,000 Picasso sketch drawing.
According to the Hoboken police, they were contacted by detectives from the New York Police Department’s Major Case Squad on Tuesday regarding the theft of a Picasso painting from a hotel in Manhattan.
Police executed a search warrant at Lugo’s Washington Street apartment at about 2:20 a.m. on July 12, according to police.
Hoboken detectives responded to the residence upon obtaining the search warrant and were joined by members of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and the NYPD. Inside the apartment, which was unoccupied – as Lugo is incarcerated in San Francisco – police found the allegedly stolen Picasso painting from a Manhattan hotel, as well as other stolen artwork, police said.
The paintings in the Washington Street apartment, valued at approximately $500,000, were hanging on the walls and and around the apartment, police said.
All items of evidence were seized by either the NYPD or the HCPO, and those agencies will file the appropriate charges and prosecute in their respective jurisdictions, police said. –Ray Smith