Encino Recovery

Encino Recovery $20M Art Collection

At Art Recovery International, we enjoy a very close relationship with police forces around the world. We donate our services to law enforcement providing research, information, identification, and recovery services. However, every once and a while we encounter a rogue cop who forgets the police motto: “To Serve and To Protect” and, instead, makes its all about himself.

This was one of our wildest recovery cases.  In September 2014, the phone rings and a person on the other end says, “this is Darko calling from Slovenia, I know where some stolen art is”.  Now, we get calls like this all the time and I was certain that “Darko” was a made-up name and that he was about to waste my time.   However, Darko explained that he read a news article online about a 2008 theft where I had commented about the theft and he was reaching out to provide some information.

Darko proceeded to send over some very grainy images via WhatsApp that our team matched up with our stolen art database.  Sure enough, Darko claimed access to a multimillion-dollar art collection that had been stolen in 2008 from a home in the hills of Encino, California.

The Crime

The elderly owners were in a back room of their house when the thief entered through a side door of the home.  The maid had just left to go shopping.

The thief made quick work of the wealthy real estate investors’ multimillion-dollar art collection including Marc Chagall’s “Les Paysans,” Diego Rivera’s “Mexican Peasant,”  Arshile Gorky’s “Cubist Still Life, and more.

By the time the maid returned about an hour later, at least a dozen artworks -- frames and all -- had been stripped from the home. A $20-million-dollar collection that took more than half a century to compile was dismantled in less than 60 minutes. The anti-theft system, for whatever reason, did not prevent the heist.

The Recovery

After confirming the match, I contacted Det. Donald Hrycyk of the LAPD art crime team.

Our art historians prepared an analysis confirming that the photos we were sent matched the images of the stolen paintings and then the fun began.

A plan was set up with Det. Hrycyk that I would introduce him to Darko as “Don the Insurance Guy” with an eye towards qualifying Darko for the posted $200,000 reward offered by the insurance company that paid out on the loss.  Officer Hyrycyk would pursue his criminal investigation and promised, in writing, to notify the insurer of my extensive involvement.  Pursuant to the contracts we have with the many fine art insurance companies, we are required to notify them as soon as possible when we have located stolen artwork that they have paid out on.

Unfortunately, Officer Don did NOT inform the insurance company of my involvement and after several months of waiting I decided to contact the insured victim to ask him which insurance company had paid his claim.  I then received an angry phone call from Det. Hrycyk with some very strong language “why are you calling my witness?” He said.  This was clearly coded law enforcement language meant to intimidate and prevent me from speaking with the insured victim.  Don was implying that he could charge me with interfering with his criminal investigation even if I only wanted to know the name of the Insurer so  we could get paid for our work.  Again, Don promised to notify the insurance company “at the right time” and refused to tell me the name of my own client.

Well, that “right time” never came and in December 2014, Officer Hyrcyk announced that he had recovered the paintings with the assistance from the FBI and that a Paul Espinoza was arrested for trying to sell the artworks to undercover FBI agents.  A joint FBI-LAPD press conference was held without mention or invitation for our early work in the case.   The press covered the story extensively and Officer Hrycyk claimed that he was “not allowed to identify outside parties” in their press releases or inteviews.

Other than being a first rate “stronzo”, why would this (now thankfully retired) LAPD officer take the credit for our work and go out of his way to keep us from earning what was to be a significant contracted recovery fee?   One theory is that Officer Hyrcyk was desperate to gain positive media attention and keep it for himself.  Hyrcyk worked for decades alongside his partner, LAPD Officer Stephanie Lazarus, without knowing that she murdered her ex-boyfriend’s lover in 1986 before jointing the police force.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jun-06-me-detective-arrested6-story.html

“No comment” is right. Can you imagine claiming to be a first-rate art detective and criminal investigator without knowing that your own partner was a killer?   In fact, to this day, the full story (with Don’s name) seems to have been scrubbed from the internet although this photo of Don and Stephanie is still floating around.  

The case had a happy ending for most.  A criminal was arrested, the stolen paintings were recovered, Darko got a nice reward, and the insurance company took me out to an awesome dinner in London.  They had no idea that we were involved in the case.  No one ever told them.