On September 14th, star bond trader, Jeffrey Gundlach, returned to his Santa Monica home to find his art collection, 2010 Porsche Carrera, watches, and rare bottles of wine missing. Two weeks later, police recovered the contemporary art trove. Including works by Piet Mondrian, Jasper Johns, and Richard Diebenkorn, the collection totaled nearly $10 million. Gundlach had offered a $1.7 million reward for the collection’s safe return.
Santa Monica police arrested two suspects after officers received a tip that the stolen art was being held at an automobile stereo shop in Pasadena. After raiding Al & Ed’s Autosound, police recovered all but one of Gundlach’s paintings. The store’s manager, Jay Jeffrey Nieto, 45, was arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen property. A second suspect, Wilmer Cadiz, 40, was arrested on the same charges at his home. The final painting was recovered at a residence in Glendale.
The near-record reward is believed to have played a key role in the collections’ recovery. However, it is not clear whether the reward money will be paid to the person who provided the tip that led to the arrest of Nieto and Cadiz. Gundlach had offered $1 million for the return of the Mondrian painting, Composition (A) En Rouge Et Blanc. The offer is said to be the highest ever reward for a single painting.
