Missouri Nursing Home Employee Absconds With Valuable Painting
Ralph Ekberg's favorite painting was a picture he had purchased in 1965 for $400. The painting was "Summer Clouds" by Edgar Payne, an American impressionist painter. He had no idea of its value - and valuable it was. The painting was worth at least $175,000, according to a California art gallery.
Ralph was asleep in April 2006 when his painting was stolen from the wall in his room at St. John's Mercy Villa in Springfield, Missouri. The thief, a nursing home employee, had no idea of the value of the painting either; he was just hoping to make a few hundred dollars. Micah Owen Shatswell told the Edenhurst Gallery in California that he had gotten the painting from his uncle and sold it to them for $175,000.
After an investigation by the FBI's art crime team, the crime trail led back to Shatswell and he was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2008 for transporting the stolen painting across state lines. He pleaded guilty to the charge in April 2009 and faces up to ten years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and possible restitution. He is awaiting sentencing.
