Rare Painting Stolen 5 Years Ago Recovered

Monterey County sheriff’s officers and FBI agents have recovered a rare Frederic Remington painting stolen from a home in San Diego County five years ago.

Michael T. Ford, 37, of Carmel was arrested Tuesday after a two-month investigation, Sheriff’s Lt. Robert Baer said.

The pastel, titled “Calvary Officer,” was taken from the La Jolla home of Ord Preston in 1987. Police said it is still unknown who burglarized the home.

Preston said he was surprised the artwork was recovered. “I thought it was probably out of the country,” he said.

The painting has probably changed hands several times since the theft, Preston said. A month after the painting was stolen, a man called Preston from San Diego wanting to sell the artwork back to Preston for the price the man had paid for the stolen painting--$20,000.

The painting, which Ord’s father purchased from Remington in 1902, is one of a series of eight works called “A Bunch of Buckskins,” and was last appraised in 1987 at $175,000.

Remington, who died in 1909, was best known for paintings, drawings and sculptures of cowboys and Indians.