Four Attempt Theft of Fogg Sculpture

A Fogg Museum security guard last month foiled what is assumed to be an attempted theft of a Degas sculpture with an estimated value of one million dollars, a police spokesperson said yesterday.

The incident is thought to be linked to a recent rash of nationwide art thefts that began in January.

The brass sculpture, called "Grande Arabesque, Third Time," is displayed in a plexiglas case which apparently was tampered with on February 25.

According to a Harvard University Police report, a museum security guard found three screws that hold the Vitrene case to the floor loosened.

According to police spokesperson Kyle Tempesta, the guard noticed two Asian men and two white women acting suspiciously in the second floor gallery housing the statue. When he entered the room, one of the women looked startled and one of the men quickly put something in his shirt pocket, the report said.

"We're assuming the possibility it could be some kind of screwdriver," said Tempesta.

After the four suspects hurriedly left the museum, the guard found the screws, which Tempesta said are difficult to loosen.

"The average individual is not going is not going to have either the expertise or the equipment to perform a theft of this type," Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent James A. Hern told the press this month.

The security guard, assured that no display work was being done on the sculpture, notified his supervisor who in turn notified the University police.

Museum security officials refused to comment on the incident, but Fogg spokesperson Peter Walsh said no major security changes would result from the incident.

"Security performed beautifully, brilliantly, in this case. As long as we go on performing at that level, we will be fine," he said.

The Harvard police soon contacted the Boston Musuem of Fine Arts (MFA) because the MFA had reported a 14th century Ming vase stolen from its Vitrene case only four days before. According to Tempesta, FBI agents investigating the MFA theft checked the Fogg for fingerprints because the modus operandi in both incidents was similiar.

This week, the FBI arrested two New York men in connection with the MFA theft. George Athanatos, 34, and Ronald Corteselli, 28, are now also being investigated in connection with thefts in Detroit, Columbus, Albany, Syracuse, Baltimore and San Francisco.

Neither man fits the description of the Fogg suspects, but some observers said that does not rule out the possiblity they were somehow involved in the incident. "It is possible [Athanatos and Corteselli] are fences," said WBZ-TV reporter Brad Willis.

The police report described the two male suspects in the Fogg incident as Asian, each in their mid-20s and weighing about 140 lbs. One man, approximately 5-ft. 8-in. tall, wore a white rugby shirt, while the other, approximately 6-ft. tall, wore a blue jacket, jeans and metal rim glasses, the report said.

The report also described one female suspect as 5-ft. 8-in., 120 lbs., with black hair and wearing a blue top and skirt. The other female suspect was described as 5-ft. 3-in., about 130 lbs., with short blond hair and wearing a blue ski jacket.