Men Plead Not Guilty in $9-Million Art Theft

Two men accused in the $9-million theft of artwork from a Northridge storage locker pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday and a judge slashed their bail from $5 million to $100,000.

Peter MacKenzie, 43, a Chatsworth carpenter, pleaded not guilty to charges of burglary, grand theft and receiving stolen property while his friend, Alan McArthur, 38, a Granada Hills electrician, entered the same plea to a charge of receiving stolen property.

The two men were arrested Tuesday after Los Angeles police and FBI agents traced nine stolen paintings by modern masters such as Picasso, Chagall and Degas to their homes. Eight of the paintings were found behind a wall in MacKenzie’s home and the ninth was found in McArthur’s bedroom, agents said.

The paintings had been reported stolen Feb. 5, 1992, from a locker at a Northridge storage company where MacKenzie worked part time. The 85-year-old owner of the paintings had stored them there for 13 years because she had no room for them and believed they would be secure there. She could not afford to insure them or store them in an art vault, she told police.

An informant’s tip led investigators to MacKenzie and McArthur.

Neither man spoke during a short arraignment hearing in Los Angeles Municipal Court. McArthur smiled and looked at family members in the audience when Judge Susan Isacoff stated that the men were being held in lieu of $5-million bail.

The amount brought a gasp in the busy arraignment court. The suspects’ attorneys asked that the amount be reduced, and Deputy Dist. Atty. Ellen Aragon did not oppose.

“We still have an ongoing investigation, but I think the $5 million is excessive at this point,” Aragon said.

“I think so, too,” Isacoff said. “I just set bail at a million in a murder case.” She reduced bail to $100,000.

Outside of court, McArthur’s attorney, Michael B. Zimbert of Van Nuys, said his client is not a master thief as the publicity surrounding the high-profile case suggests. He said several other people live in the same home as McArthur and there is no evidence linking him to the painting found there.

“When all the dust settles on this, there is going to be a guy who loves motorcycles and is an electrician and that’s it,” Zimbert said. “The only artwork this guy has is pictures of motorcycles.”

McArthur’s mother, who declined to give her name, added, “All I can say is that my son is innocent.”

Deputy Public Defender Nancy Gast, who represented MacKenzie at the hearing, could not be reached for comment afterward.

Investigators have said that the suspects are not thought to be master art thieves but rather two friends who learned that the loot from a burglary could be a treasure. However, authorities said it was their ineptness in attempting to sell million-dollar paintings that led to their downfall. An informant they had approached with an offer to sell the paintings contacted the FBI.

Aragon said the investigation is continuing and that further arrests could occur. She declined to say Thursday who or what the focus of that investigation is.

The prosecutor said it is believed that MacKenzie stole the paintings while working for Public Storage.

Kay Eide, regional manager for Public Storage, said MacKenzie was hired on several occasions in 1991 and 1992 to perform carpentry and maintenance work at the Northridge facility. She said he was neither assigned to clear out storage rooms--as his landlord said he claimed he did--nor was he given access to keys to the storage rooms.