Burglars Posing as Gardeners Make Off With $100,000 in Art

Four burglars posing as gardeners and using a leaf blower to drown out sounds of forced entry broke into a second-story apartment in Sherman Oaks and stole about $100,000 worth of artwork, Los Angeles police said Thursday.

But they were in such a hurry that they left many other artworks, including ivory carvings worth more than $25,000, on the balcony of the apartment in the 14800 block of Dickens Street, Detective Bill Martin said.

The burglars arrived at the apartment complex about noon on Tuesday, Martin said. One man used a leaf blower outside the building for several minutes as his accomplices broke into the apartment and then into a sealed room inside where the artwork was kept.

“They knew what they wanted,” Martin said. “Whoever went in there knew what they were going after. The artworks were not up for sale.” Nor had the work been shown recently, he added.

The apartment’s only resident was not home at the time of the burglary, Martin said, and police have no suspects.

The stolen items include 12 paintings, three pieces of antique Italian furniture and other works that belonged to the estate of George Maximoff, a Russian immigrant and art collector who died last year.

Maximoff’s daughter is conservator of the estate, which is still in probate, Martin said.

Martin would not identify the occupant of the apartment.

The stolen artwork includes a painting of a fox hunt by 18th-Century artist John Sartorius, valued at about $40,000. A painting depicting St. George and the Dragon by an anonymous Florentine monk, valued at $6,000, was also taken.

The burglars moved many pieces of art to the balcony but left them there in their haste to flee. Other than the ivory carvings, Martin would give no details about the works left behind.

“There was a lot left there. They were in a hurry,” Martin said. “We don’t know why. Maybe they saw someone.”