The books were much heavier than the boys had projected, and the pair could handle only three at a time. Along the way a stoned Spencer read aloud from the purloined first edition of On the Origin of Species, particularly fascinated by the section on how the ears of domesticated animals have drooped over generations due to the disuse of the muscles of the ear from the animals not being much alarmed by danger.. We had a few pitchers, feeling each other out. Us three, we were much thicker than he was.) And what Chas likely didn't know was that, for Warren, Eric, and Spencer, the actual appraisal and sale of the stolen books had become irrelevant to the mission. received two additional pieces of evidence from Christies: security-camera footage of the meeting and a cell-phone number the men had left behind. Cops entered the basement, a dank pit reeking of marijuana, and found Warren sprawled out on a mattress. When an agent called, he got a voice-mail recording, This is Spence. Like if we ever get caught, were talking about international issues, way past interstate commerce or whatever the hell it is.. Warren, under an alias, would make an appointment with Gooch for that afternoon to view the books they wanted to steal. Because the boys pleaded guilty, many of the case's crucial details remain unknown even to law enforcement. Once Warren had pulled the cap over Goochs eyes, the two laid a bedsheet on the ground and began piling on the seven Audubon folios they intended to steal (the four-volume Birds of America plus three volumes from another Audubon series). With a long, thin face and bleached-blond hair and sideburns, he appeared younger than Gooch had expected. The author knocks on the doors bearing the darkest symbols, behind which lie guns, ammo, antisemitism, antiabortion dogmaand a belief in the coming civil war. Spencer drives me out to Lexington [Blue Grass Airport] on a Friday. He took a cab to Dam Square, an old hippie hangout in the center of the city he had read about on the Internet. I'm not going to lie. Spencer assembled his outfit with even greater care. After a quick powwow in the stacks, the conspirators decided to abort the mission for the time being and retreated to the bungalow. Currently an artist-in-residence at Blue Macaw in Boscobel, Reinhard says his first trip to Jamaica has stirred his creative senses, and he couldnt be happier. Far from being social outcasts, they had been popular athletes, and two were on some form of college scholarship. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The painting is a kaleidoscope of images, including what appears to be a computer, a cell phone, a bong, the Transylvania library, and loose sheets of notepaper, floating above a desiccated one-eyed young man in a watch cap, kicking back on a beat-up couch with a blue dog on his lap. Lifting a technique straight from the film Reservoir Dogs, Warren assigned code names based on color. That night Chas snapped, they say, fearing the Christie's book appraisalthe Jesus bolt holding Warren's entire heist plan togetherwas in danger of falling through. She agreed. We figured the more obvious [we were], the less likely [we would be suspected]., As it was already nearing the end of the school year, and there was a lot of planning yet to be done, they agreed to postpone the theft until at least the fall. I wouldnt trade it for anything., Looking ahead, the artist divulged that he is due to have a show next year in Los Angeles and has much to produce. On the morning of December 17, 2004, Betty Jean Gooch, a librarian in the Special Collections Library at Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky, was preparing for her 11 oclock appointment with Walter Beckman, a man she had never met. After several phone calls Warren managed to arrange a meeting in New York. Realizing that the only way out was through the main floor, they took the elevator up once again and carried the books into a back stairwell that led to another exit. So we get the passport from the dude, plane tickets. Forensically examining Instagram accounts, interviews, and police reports, author Kathleen Hale reconstructs their relationship, and ultimately Petitos murder. A few minutes later, a short, dark-haired young man, also dressed in a winter coat, cap, and gloves, entered the library. After a quick powwow in the stacks, the conspirators decided to abort the mission for the time being and retreated to the bungalow. Warren was already busily working out the problem, returning for advice to his underworld contact: What if we had some artwork that we wanted to sell? Warren remembers asking him. The truth is, but for one big mistake, they probably would have gotten away with it, an L.P.D. He focused above all on painting, gaining admission into a prestigious Lexington arts program. As reported by People, poor planning and a fumbling execution including one member, Reinhard, leaving his home phone number at an action house eventually led to their capture. The L.P.D. Because this is so much bigger than anything weve done before.. 2023 Cond Nast. Warren jumped at the opportunity and recruited another adrift freshman, his old high-school soccer teammate Eric Borsuk, as a partner. Eric couldnt get hold of his friends car, leaving Chas to borrow a Dodge Caravan his mother was fortuitously selling the next day, the boys say. The meeting was scheduled for the next morning on the southern edge of Central Park near the Plaza Hotel. Warren and Chas go up to the Rare Book Room, on the third floor, and Warren brings Gooch down hard and fast with a stun gun, making her a non-factor throughout the operation. Warren and Chas then let Eric in and they begin wrapping the Audubons in bedsheets and put any smaller books in backpacks. It was definitely a terrifying thing. Warren and Chas left the other two and staggered to the nearby China Club, a tacky West Side nightclub, which they knew about from the famous Rick James episode of Chappelles Show. In their senior year the two became local celebrities after a dramatic photo appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader showing Lexington Catholic star goalkeeper Lipka and Tates Creek forward Reinhard battling midair during a playoff game. Four students stole priceless books from Transylvania University. The phone number was registered to a Gary Reinhard of Lexington, Kentucky. and local detectives. Thanks for the on my post. When the four boys were arrested the news was met with disbelief, as none of them had been in any serious trouble before. Ink transfer refers to my unique process of removing the ink from magazine pages and suspending it in layers of gel medium. . Reinhard mentioned a collection of lightly guarded rare books and art at the university library, and the two, while watching Hollywood heist movies, started kicking around the idea of stealing from the $20 million collection. All reinhard art prints ship within 48 hours and include a 30-day money-back guarantee. After researching auction houses online, Warren singled out Christie's in New York. American painter Spencer Reinhard is loving the new art he is diligently producing. Chas not only lived in the yellow bungalow but also was a part owner of it with his father, a prominent Lexington real-estate investor. The next morning, all nerves, he left for the meeting site, a caf within walking distance. Spencer believed it was an insurmountable problem. When Warren arrived, he saw a man fitting that description seated with three other men. By early November the boys were selling fake IDs at a hundred dollars apiece, and had apparently branched out into more lucrative identity manipulations. On the morning of December 16, Warrens carefully scripted plan began to unravel almost immediately. Spencer was born in 1984 in Lexington Kentucky. The truth is, but for one obvious, big mistakethe trip to Christiesthey probably would have gotten away with it, a Lexington police detective told me. The plan for the actual robbery sets out three distinct phases. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. (Spencer had had to do a rush job on them because his art-history final had run long.) They're all slim and dressed identically in cheap sneakers and a khaki uniform emblazoned with their incarceration numbers, and all have hair down to their shoulders. It had been agreed that Warren, with his smooth talk, and Spencer, with his artistic knowledge, would go to the meeting. It was during his studies at Transylvania University that Spencer became aware of John James Audubons work, The Birds of America. He was just so unbearable. (Big Warren declined to comment on the gambling accusations at the time.) Because of the expense, only Warren made the trip, touching down at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on a Saturday morning in early March 2004. I never intended to paint them and I resisted the idea but in the end I couldnt help but indulge the irony. ). . Phase 1 begins at the bungalow when all four get into what Warren designated the G.T.A.V., or the Go-to-and-Away-Vehicle, all disguised as old men. After prison I took up a casual interest in birds. They got security around that? Nonchalantly, very nonchalantly, I mean, just kind of shooting it between us. They also noticed a group of people lingering in the Rare Book Room. Now the hard partwe have to steal them. I was nervous. They were skeptical, Warren recalls. I was surprised he didnt.. If we got away with it, we'd be in Europe living this crazy life thinking we were Ocean's 11 types. When I get up there, B.J. [Warren's] like, Come on up, Eric remembers. In the fall of 2004, Warren Lipka moved into the unfinished basement. In the fall of 2003, Warren left for the University of Kentucky on a full athletic scholarship, eager to take his game to the next level, and with vague plans of getting into politics. Undeterred, Warren introduced himself as Terry, firmly shaking hands before sitting down. The painting is a kaleidoscope of images, including what appears to be a computer, a cell phone, a bong, the Transylvania library, and loose sheets of notepaper, floating above a desiccated. into a perfect parking space and watched as Eric and Warren entered the library. The stun guns Warren had ordered never arrived, so he drove around town and returned with a Black Cobra Stun Pen, and had Spencer zap him and Eric to test its knockdown power. Warren sectioned off a bedroom by hanging bedsheets from the rafters and furnished it with an old mattress and a tangerine easy chair he had picked up from Goodwill. Before, in college, growing up, we were being funneled into this mundane, nickel-and-dime existence. As they took their seats in the conference room, Warren explained that he and Mr. Stephens are the sole representatives of Walter Beckman, whom he described as a very private individual from Boston who had recently inherited several valuable rare books and manuscripts. Bam. After high school I chose to attend Transylvania University where I would continue to play soccer and study art. a plan to fail spencer reinhard painting Bid on Art by Today's Leading Artists. We live in 10 months of the year in Colombia and spend two in the States. Add to cart Category: Prints Additional information Afraid to Look - Spencer Reinhard Home / Prints / Afraid to Look Afraid to Look $ 789 Full sized print of acrylic on canvas painting. During our interview Eric told me, He was like just a weight on us. His clumsy attempt to clear his name, in a no-holds-barred interview with BBC, Gabby Petitos Life WithAnd Death ByBrian Laundrie. To have time to properly apply the disguises, he tried to reschedule his art-history final for later in the day on the 16th, but was unsuccessful. When Halloran inquired about them, Spencer spoke up and offered to fetch them from the car. Several weeks before Spencer was approached by Warren about the fake-ID business, he had been on a freshman-orientation tour of Transy, including the library and its exceptional collection of rare books and manuscripts. In his talk, Spencer speaks to how he found a unique, unexpected sense of freedom and honesty in his art, not constrained by societal influences or monetary pressures. The two boys sought cover from the cops in the sprawling grounds of the housing projects. It'll show up on your profile and if approved, on this page. For footwear he went with clean white sneakers. (The librarian who chased them out of the library did tell police the correct total of four thieves, even though she had seen only three.) He was still enrolled, but only nominally, and remained on the fringes of campus life. (Having seen their fair share of heist movies, they knew how dangerous it was to leave a paper trail.) The meeting initially hit a snag when Barry was put off by the boys youth. 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