Man Accused of Seeking Drugs for Art Goes to Trial

A former Coachella city manager went on trial Tuesday for allegedly attempting to swap world famous paintings supposedly belonging to Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton for 110 pounds of cocaine.

The defendant, Jose Becerra Uribe, was arrested in an Irvine Marriott hotel room by undercover federal agents who had worked out a deal to exchange the cocaine for artwork, including 10 Renoirs, two Dalis and a Matisse, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.

In his opening argument in federal court here, Assistant U. S. Atty. Thomas Warren held up a small Matisse painting he said was worth $50,000.

The artwork, he said, should have been in a museum or a collection, but instead was found in a van in the Irvine hotel’s parking lot, wrapped in wadded paper.

Warren said Uribe and an associate, Raymond Torres, who has since pleaded guilty to attempted cocaine possession, told undercover government informants that the paintings belonged to Newton.

In a trial memorandum, Warren stated “that Newton knew about the [cocaine] transaction and wasn’t taking part in it, and . . . wasn’t going to report [the paintings] stolen.” He said the entertainer “wanted to get rid of the paintings because of problems with the IRS.”

Newton has been mired in bankruptcy since 1992. Documents show that some of the Renoirs were bought, charged to Newton’s account and shipped to his home.