a927: Thieves clear paintings out of artist's gallery: Miami Herald(fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

NORTH MIAMI

Thieves clear paintings out of artist's gallery

Thieves ransacked the Daleus Museum and Art Gallery,
escaping with nearly $800,000 worth of paintings by
Haitian-American artist Joseph Wilfred Daleus.

Sometime after 9 p.m. on Feb. 14, intruders forced
open the museum's two rear doors. They carried out the
most valuable paintings they could find, including one
valued at $150,000, through those doors. The next
morning, Daleus walked into his gallery at 1682 NE
123rd St. and found little remained of his life's
work.

Daleus, who often sits on the sidewalk outside his
museum taking brush to canvas and waving at passersby,
had no insurance for the paintings. The 52-year-old
artist said he had simply dismissed the possibility of
ever being robbed. Police described the incident as an
''educated'' crime, saying whoever took the paintings
knew the prices they could fetch and where they could
be sold.


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