Chronic offender arrested after two sculptures stolen from South Granville art gallery

A brazen thief entered a South Granville art gallery on Dec. 30 and allegedly walked out with a $30,000 sculpture. But the owner was busy with a customer and didn’t notice.

So the thief decided to come back Dec. 31 to steal another one. This time, the owner saw him and phoned police.

The man had vanished before they arrived, but after a quick review of the store’s security footage, a police officer recognized a “chronic offender” with more than 115 previous convictions.

“We were able to mobilize units to go look for him,” said Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison. “While we were looking for him we sent officers to his residence, which is a little apartment building on Powell Street in East Vancouver. Within an hour, officers waiting outside spotted the guy walking up, and made an arrest. He was still carrying the statue.”

Police then got a warrant to search the man’s apartment, and found the statue that had been stolen the day before.