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Thursday, 07 July 2011 03:33

Security camera may have filmed Picasso thief

Surveillance video from Lefty O'Doul's shows the suspect going up Geary with the Picasso under his arm. Surveillance video from Lefty O'Doul's shows the suspect going up Geary with the Picasso under his arm. Photo: Lefty O'Doul's security camera

A man walking down the street with what may have been a stolen Pablo Picasso drawing was filmed by a Union Square restaurant's surveillance camera moments after the theft, police and the business' owner said Wednesday.

The footage taken just before noon Tuesday shows a well-dressed young man walking away from the Weinstein Gallery on Geary Street, where Picasso's 1965 pencil drawing, "Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman)," had just been stolen. Under his arm is a picture frame, with a newspaper covering whatever the frame holds.

Police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said Wednesday investigators had not shown the footage to witnesses yet, but that the man is "presumably our suspect."

The footage was filmed by a security camera mounted next to the door at Lefty O'Doul's, a few doors west of the gallery. Owner Nick Bovis spotted the footage Tuesday evening and handed it to police Wednesday.

The man in the video has a dark jacket, light-colored pants and loafers with no socks, a description similar - though not identical - to the one police put out Tuesday. Witnesses told investigators the thief had dark-colored pants, not light ones, and was wearing dark glasses, which are not visible in the surveillance camera footage.

The restaurant's camera runs about 33 minutes fast, Bovis said, so the time stamp of 12:12 p.m. means the man was actually filmed at 11:39 a.m., two minutes before the gallery reported the theft.

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