Although she seemed to have disappeared after her cover was blown by Collector magazine, it has been reported that Katherine O’hara Saccio, better known as the Howdy Doody Enchantress, is back on the Southern California antique scene.She swindled Bruce “Chip” Harrington out of $30,000 of antique silver, and Bill Kochan out of $5,000 worth of antique toys with the promise of a rare Howdy Doody toy from the estate of his creator, Buffalo Bob Smith. Vintage fashion collector Theodore Gonzalez spotted Katie with her debonaire sidekick at the December PCC Flea Market. He feared she may be looking for another victim for her complex consign and run scheme. Gonzalez encountered Saccio once before, at the Long Beach Show, but fortunately did not fall victim by consigning items to her on faith, but he did buy from her
Category Archives: Crime
Bonnie & Clydette of Kitchen Collectibles
At least the cat burglar from Malloy’s in Carlsbad was stealing something worth the risk. Two female robbers in Orange are looking at serving some hard time for stealing kitchen collectibles, including a cake plate, large shell bottles, and a stone and iron garden piece, all of which they managed to tuck into humongous purses.The theft took place at Country Roads in Orange. The owner’s son, Bryce, and a dealer at the mall, Tim, suspected some shenanigans, and took off in hot pursuit through the mean streets of Old Town Orange. They stopped at Julep’s where the two Country Road’s deputies spied the women in the back area of the store unloading items into their car. Bryce called the Orange Police Department. An officer arrived quickly and arrested one of the women. “They were only allowed to arrest one, because she had merchandise with her,” said Jackson. “They were all crying and upset, boo-hoo. Guess that’s what happens when you steal!” According to Jackson, these two women have shopped in Country Roads for years, and they even have resale licenses. In other crime news, it is becoming clear that the Snowman’s crime wave was larger than previously suspected. Dennis and Cathie Caldwell saw his photo on Collector magazine and immediately recognized him as the guy trying to peddle some stolen Roseville vases. He was arrested after a Dirk Van Erp charger he stole from the Old Barn in San Juan Capistrano was recovered in a Pasadena store. Now, it has been confirmed that it was the Snowman that was responsible for another theft in Granny’s Attic in Temecula. ”The police came by today and informed me that the Snowman is the same guy on my security camera stealing a School of the Mines pottery.” According to owner Mike Freville, the police officer sent the information from his police report to the District Attorney handling the Old Barn theft. ”This should add a little more time to his sentence,” he said.
Cat burglar given too much credit
Some of those in the media have been giving the Carlsbad Cat Burglar a little too much credit. At least Bonnie & Clydette at Country Roads brought big enough purses to pull off the heist. According to Richard Strell, the Padre of Parrish, the cat burglar did not cut out a big enough hole in the roof to squeeze both himself and his booty out of the building. ”I heard the guy couldn’t fit the large box through the hole so he left all the good stuff behind,” he said, adding that his neighbor’s daughter works at the jewelry store. Had comedian Jack Benny been a cat burglar and he faced the same dilemma, how would he have decided? The jewels or his life. He’d probably still be thinking it over.
Easton launches innovative Theft website
Map Man Joel Easton has launched a website that will register stolen items in the antique industry. The idea was first mentioned by Marie Gauthier, owner of Revival Antiques, at the November Long Beach Antique Market. Frank! posted the YouTube video with her advice on Facebook and within 48 hours, Easton had initiated a website for that very purpose. It costs $25 for a lifetime subscription and the first person to sign up was Victorian Provenza of The Little Red 222 in Pomona. Gauthier is the very kind of person who could use such a database because she deals in high end items. If she purchases a stolen Arts & Crafts cake plate for $1,000 and then it is seized by the police as a stolen item, she is out the money and the item. This way, she will receive e-mail alerts and be able to keep up with hot merchandise.
Giant Asian items brought into Old Barn by Dealer John Jordan
Since the Snowman is in jail and awaiting trial, it is unlikely that the Snowman will make any attempts to steal a larger-than-life 18th Century Chinese temple guardian, a Chinese carved priest, and a moroccan door. Some suggest it is not his incarceration that will prevent a heist, but the sheer tonnage. The Asian antiques are among the showstoppers brought by dealer John Jordan into The Old Barn in San Juan Capistrano. The Asian items have been gradually filtered into the Old Barn from the Hilton collection, which was liquidated in the 1980s. Jordan is not just a dealer in Asian antiquities, he is an expert in his own right, having authored a book on the authentication of pre-Columbian figures; he liquidated more than 500 priceless pieces of pre-Columbian figures from the collection of the late artist/collector Leonard Kaplan. The Old Barn is located at 31792 Camino Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano. Call (949) 493-9144 for more information.
Respected author passes off glass as jade, fake netsukes as real
Price guide queen Judith Miller recently remarked that many books on antiques are filled with eye candy but contain almost no substance. When she said this, she probably was not thinking of the worst example of antique book publishing. Some are claiming that author Mircea Vileanu prepared antique books to give him the credibility he needed in order to sell fakes on a level that would make Bernie Madoff blush. The New York State Attorney General’s office is suing to stop the author from running his high stakes faking operation according to the North County Gazette. Veleanu sold artifacts through eBay and GoAntiques.com claiming that they contained high quality and expensive jade, when they actually were made of quartz or glass. He then refused to provide refunds or acknowledge that the pieces were fake, according to the Attorney General’s office. Their lawsuit seeks to permanently bar Veleanu from selling jade artifacts unless they can be verified as authentic and obtain restitution for consumers he defrauded, plus penalties and costs to the state. Veleanu is a retired doctor and collector of antique jade carvings and other oriental artifacts. He portrayed himself as an expert on such wares and has authored three books devoted to his collection. Since at least 2001, Veleanu began selling items from his collection, including jade carvings, under the business name of
People must mind their P's & Q's
Last month there were four stories involving crimes at antiques malls in Southern California that were reported on in Collector magazine, but prior to that these incidents were almost instantly announced on the Collector network. This alerted 800 people in the business that these crimes had happened. These “friends” in turn spread the news to their associates and by the time the magazine had hit the streets, the crime news had already been well-circulated throughout the industry. One of the network “friends,” Linda Keene, knew one of the people accused of one of the crimes and was horrified to learn about it. However, she sees the importance of this reporting and was quoted as saying, “I think that what you have done will create a paradigm shift in the area of communication with in this business. That is huge! This has shown everyone that they need to mind their P’s and Q’s because there are no secrets and if you screw up, everyone will know.”
Snowman on ice
The Arts & Crafts thief, known as the notorious “Snowman,” who has been cutting a swath of pillage in the Orange County area, has been arrested in Pasadena. The thief was described as 6’1″ tall and lanky with a tan contrasted by a shock of snow-white hair. He wears large, dark metal-rimmed glasses. Lead detective Scott McCloud made the arrest after he and his team scoured 11 Pasadena antique stores in search of the stolen items and eventually located them in the well-known Arts & Crafts colony. ”Several malls had the front cover of Collector magazine with the guy’s picture plastered in their windows,” said Jeff Arnette, Old Barn dealer and owner of the Dirk Van Erp items. The Snow Man was not just a small time thief, which explains why the police put out a three county dragnet. He had been on parole for other crimes and had a warrant out for his arrest in Victorville. The victims of the theft, Jeff and Marcia Arnette, were called down to the Aliso Viejo Sheriff’s Station on October 21st, where they identified the stolen items. ”Hope all the other would-be thiefs out there are reading this,” said Annamae Geissinger, dealer at Granny’s Attic in Temecula, which was also a recent burglary victim. “Don’t mess with antiquers.” Although the couple positively identified the Dirk Van Erp pieces, the items will not be returned until the case has been disposed. When Chapman Antique Mall owners Dennis and Cathie Caldwell saw the Snowman’s picture on the front cover of the October issue, they both exclaimed: “Hey, we know that guy!” They believed that the same guy had tried to sell them a couple of Roseville vases for $100 each in 2007. The Caldwells thought it was strange that this guy would want to sell $900 Zanesville pots for so little, so they purchased the two and feigned interest in acquiring others if he had any, in hopes that he would return with what they suspected would be additional stolen merchandise. They then called around to the other Orange antique stores to see if anyone had any items stolen. Antique Depot admitted to being the victim of several stolen Roseville pieces. The Caldwells returned the Roseville pair to their rightful home. ”It’s nice to know this man is off the streets,” said Marty Underwood, manager at Antique Emporium in Orange. “The scary part is he’s been in our store a few times over the past 5 year. I felt he was up to no good but of course was not able to catch him. I wonder what he got from us? Frank!, you posted a picture of this guy and I knew exactly who he was.” Old Barn co-owner Arthur Lichtenstein is known for pursuing thieves with a vengeance. “The last moron to rob The Barn was imprisoned, and made to pay $3,000 restitution to the dealer that he stole from.” Collector magazine wrote a story about that first incident and ran surveillance photos that led to the arrest of the culprit. Arthur pursued this guy like Ahab pursued the white whale. He was offering $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Snowman. ”I wish I’d been in that mall instead of the ones I was in back then!” said Coralee Funaro. “I wish my mall owners had been so concerned. I commend The Old Barn for taking such an active interest in the welfare of their dealers! And I am very thankful that one mall thief, at least, has been caught.” Arthur was confident that someone would recognize this distinctive looking thief and alert the authorities. “Then he can spend time in prison with the other guy,” said Arthur. Now the famous Snowman’s fate is in the hands of the courts. ”That’s two down…how many more to go?” commended Marie Cunningham. “Guess being on the cover of Collector is as good as America’s Most Wanted.”
Jewels on the roof
A three carat diamond ring was stolen by an armed cat burglar who broke in through the bathroom roof at Mulloy’s Fine Jewelry in Carlsbad, according to T.C. Leary, an Oceanside jewelry dealer.Officers went to Mulloys Fine Jewelry on State Street near Carlsbad Village Drive about 9:15 a.m. on October 21st after being notified by the store’s alarm company. Mary at Mulloys was instructed by the police not to give any details about the incident. Some of this information was obtained from an article published in the Union-Tribune. According to Leary, the thief was a “very small, spry person.” The employee who spotted the masked burglar in the store described him as a Latino adult. 5’9″ tall wearing a dark blue hooded windbreaker and dark blue pants. He was wearing a paintball-type mask and was armed with a pistol. He took jewelry from the open safe (it was being unloaded into the cases for the day) and then he ran into the women’s restroom. They speculate he didn’t break into the store in the dead of night as one might expect. It is believed he waited until opening time so that the alarm would be turned off and the safe opened. The robber cut the hole and entered the store at dawn, hid in the restroom, and waited for employees to come to work so they could open the safe, police said. ”Some jewelry was recovered on the roof,” said Leary. Anyone with information can call Carlsbad police a (760) 931-2197 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by sending a message through its website, sdcrimestoppers.com, or by calling (888) 580-8477.
Granny's owner catches dealer red handed
Five police cars surrounded Erik Lynn Johannesen like a swarm of bees as he prepared to fish the last two stolen silver spoons out of his pocket and in inconspicuously throw them on the passenger seat of his van. He was in the parking lot of Granny’s Attic Antique Mall in Temecula and failed to realize that his vehicle was clearly visible from the entrance of the mall, and owner Mike Freville, already on alert, had seen him moments before take other stolen items out of his pocket and throw them onto the passenger seat. He called Temecula police immediately and had no qualms about placing Johannesen under citizen’s arrest. The 49-year-old dealer with sandy blonde hair and welcoming blue eyes was released on $5,000 bail after admitting to burglarizing Granny’s Attic Antique Mall. Freville suspects this was not Johannesen’s first burglary, but feels he flew under the radar for many reasons. Mainly, people in the biz knew him. He was a regular at shows, a dealer at several San Diego area antique shops, and a familiar, friendly face. Or, so they thought. Freville, however, had been keeping an eye on the 185 pound dealer for close to a year. Last October, he caught the shopper on camera switching a price tag. When Johannesen got up to the counter, the cashier asked for the missing tag, which he quickly retrieved from his pocket and placed on the counter, as if it had just fallen off. ”At that point, I knew he was trying to pull a fast one,” said Freville. It was Freville’s own silver spoons that were the jewelry dealer’s downfall. ”I don’t sell a lot of stuff in the mall,” admitted Freville. “I mostly run the place.” But, in this case, he saw Johannesen sorting through some silver spoons he had sitting in a box on a counter in the store. He didn’t think much of it, until he saw the accused exit the store and head to his van
