Drunk Off the Hook for Losing $1.3M Painting

Kristyn Trudgeon is dropping her lawsuit against the drunken courier who said he lost her $1.3 million painting after learning that her co-owner was a convicted art thief. Trudgeon realized who she was dealing with when she saw a mugshot of partner Thomas Doyle, the AP reports. Doyle, it turns out, just got out of jail in December, after pleading guilty to swindling a wealthy collector out of an Edgar Degas sculpture.

In that case, Doyle had persuaded the 73-year-old collector to let him take the statue to a famed art dealer, who, he pretended, was a relation. Instead, he made off with the statue, and sold it to an antiques dealer for $225,000. He has also spent time in federal prison for stealing $200,000 worth of jewelry in Tennessee. Trudgeon’s lawyer says she’s “exploring potential legal remedies” against Doyle. (More drunkenness stories.)