Brooklyn prosecutors arraigned Monday an alleged art thief accused of snatching some paintings of celebrities from a Williamsburg gallery earlier this month.
Louis Lassalle, 49, was indicted on burglary and criminal possession of stolen property charges for stealing the paintings worth $10,000 from the Cotton Candy Machine Art Gallery at 235 South First Street, the Brooklyn DA’s office said.
The gallery’s owner noticed that three portraits of artist Jean Michel Basquiat, Nelson Mandela and rapper, Snoop Lion, were missing on March 1, according to the criminal complaint. The owner saw Lassalle with one of the paintings and called 911, but the suspect fled.
Cops caught Lassalle a few blocks away and recovered one of the paintings but the other two are still unaccounted for.
