Police arrest suspected thief of Benton artwork

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A man accused of trying to steal an original sketch from the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio in Kansas City didn't provide much of a challenge for police.

The man tried to ride his bicycle away from the museum early Wednesday with two picture frames sticking out of his unzipped backpack, Kansas City police said.

"That kind of stands out at 4:30 in the morning," police Sgt. Mike Foster said.

The officers stopped the bicyclist about a block from the museum and recovered the black-and-white sketch called "Nebraska Farm Yard," which is worth an estimated $16,000, The Kansas City Star reported.

The thief also was carrying a framed poster of a Benton painting, $169 stolen from a donation box and an old cat food tin that Benton used to store art supplies, police said.

"He didn't get everything he planned," Foster said. "We found other pictures stacked up inside the museum, but he apparently didn't have room in his backpack."

Antonio Carrillo, 38, a convicted burglar on probation, was charged with second-degree burglary. Authorities say he used a screwdriver to pry open a locked door at the museum, according. Court records do not indicate if Carrillo has an attorney.

Benton, Missouri's most renowned 20th century artist, lived in the two-story home from 1939 until his death in 1975. He converted half of the carriage house into an art studio, which remains largely how he left it when he died.

The sketch was one of more than a dozen that Benton gave to his neighbors, said Lucy Terry, the neighbors' granddaughter who now owns the sketch. Terry loaned the work to the museum three years ago and said it was one of a few originals kept there.

She said the sketch will stay on display at the museum, which plans to add surveillance cameras to the existing alarm system.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com