Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.
Artwork worth more than $1 million was recently stolen from the Galerie Lassen inside the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, Metro Police said.
Paul R. Olson, director of the gallery, said an employee noticed that a Christian Riese Lassen print was missing from a wall upon arriving at work Sept. 13.
Employees began looking around "and we immediately noticed blank spaces," he said. After doing an inventory, Olson discovered that a total of eight Lassen paintings -- two originals and six prints -- were gone.
"I've been a nervous wreck ever since," Olson said Monday while sitting on a sofa in the gallery.
"I've run the business since 1978 and my reputation is very important to me," Olson said. "As far as I'm concerned, (the thieves have) ruined my life."
The most valuable pieces were "Sorcerer of the Seas," depicting Mickey Mouse as a sorcerer and "Seaside Romance," which shows Mickey and Minnie Mouse on a beach. The paintings sell for $395,000 each.
Both were painted in 1994 in collaboration with Disney, Olson said. They are 30 inches by 20 inches in size and were in eight-inch wide black and gold frames. The paintings are hand-signed by Lassen.
They are both painted in acrylic on trovicil, a plastic material. Numerous copies have been sold, but they are 36 by 24 inches and on canvas.
In addition, six "ultra-realism" marine-themed prints, valued at between $3,000 and $10,000 each, were stolen, Olson said.
The gallery is open until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Olson said he thinks the paintings were stolen Sept. 12 while employees were distracted by other customers.
Since the original paintings were the most valuable pieces in the gallery, Metro Detective Jon Morris said the theft "was probably profit-driven."
Investigators are exploring the possibility that the paintings have been shipped overseas, and detectives have contacted Interpol, an international criminal investigation organization that has an arm that handles stolen art.
But the thief or thieves might have a difficult time selling them because Metro has publicized the fact that these paintings are stolen, Morris said.
If the person or persons who stole the pieces is not a professional art thief, he or she might have shown the paintings to someone, he said. Morris is asking anyone with information to call Metro or Crime Stoppers. Olson said Lassen will be offering a reward, but the amount has not been decided.
The gallery has a security system, but Olson declined to say whether it has surveillance cameras. Detectives haven't ruled out that the heist could have been orchestrated by a gallery employee, but Olson said he didn't think that was the case.
In the 10 years that Olson has managed the gallery in the Forum Shops, he said only one small Lassen sculpture has been stolen.
Lassen, who Olson said has sold works to major rock stars and is the largest selling artist in Japan, was "very shocked" when he heard about the thefts. He painted the originals in Hawaii, where he lives, and spent three to six months on each.
While Olson said he'd like to see the thief or thieves arrested and prosecuted, he's more concerned with getting the two original paintings returned.
"Just bring them back," he said.
His request isn't as unlikely to be granted as it may seem.
In February, a $40,000 LeRoy Neiman painting, "Golf Landscape," was stolen from the Centaur Gallery in the Fashion Show Mall. It was anonymously returned a week later, arriving at the gallery via priority mail. The sender hasn't been located, and no one has claimed the reward that was offered for the return of the work.
Anyone with information on the stolen Lassen paintings can contact Morris at 229-3573 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.
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