Thief Nabs Picasso Drawing, Hails Taxi

And still gets away with it
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 6, 2011 12:55 PM CDT
Thief Nabs Picasso Drawing, Hails Taxi
Taxi drivers stand by the taxi cars outside of the Ministry of communication and works in Nicosia, Cyprus, Thursday, June 16, 2011.   (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Seems like something that deserves the "dumb criminals" label, except that he got away: A thief nabbed a $200,000 Pablo Picasso pencil drawing in a San Francisco gallery yesterday, then hailed a cab and vanished. The man, who was well-dressed and wearing dark glasses, apparently grabbed the drawing without attracting any attention, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Perhaps the taxi driver—not to mention the gallery staff—didn't notice the thief walking around with the 1965 "Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman)" because it's only about the size of a normal sheet of paper. Now that the theft has been reported, however, the gallery president says he fears the thief "will realize it's unsellable and will dispose of it in a less-than-proper manner." (More art theft stories.)

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