A female detective went undercover as a Transy student, tailing Spencer while a team staked out the yellow bungalow. In the morning, Warren says, he left two messages with Leckey's secretary and two more that afternoon. He loved that it had been made the screen saver on the F.B.I. 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. Even if we wanted to, they won't let us. His work and practice demonstrates not only the redemptive power of art but the struggle of all artists to articulate and convey their voice and message in an increasingly noisy and distracted world. As a child he drew and painted and his abilities led him to consider a career as an artist whilst at High School. 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. Because the boys made the highly unusual decision not to accept the prosecutor's offer to testify against one another during sentencing in exchange for leniency, they were each sentenced to identical seven-year terms. Like, they were doing something serious, talking about the heist, going over the plan, and somebody would make a joke. By one oclock that afternoon, the 227-year-old liberal-arts college was swarming with campus police, uniformed Lexington Police, plainclothes detectives, and forensic teams, as well as local news crews covering the developing Transy Book Heist, a crime that would one day be listed among the F.B.I.s all-time most significant art-theft cases. American painter Spencer Reinhard is loving the new art he is diligently producing. Near the boiler he also jerry-rigged a greenhouse for growing marijuana. Limited means forced my creativity into new areas. It immediately had kind of sparked my imagination, like a fantasy., O.K., so were sitting in the car, smoking weed, Warren recalls, and then Spencer said, I just took a tour in that library, and theres shit sitting there you wouldnt believe. Warren introduced himself as Mr. Williams. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to a Lexington Catholic alumnus who was making an easy living in identity theft. Frightened and alone in an unfriendly neighborhood and weighed down with priceless books, Warren and Eric barreled down the street, frantically trying to hail a police cruiser to rescue them. sent a team to interview Melanie Halloran, who told the agents about her meeting with Mr. Stephens and Mr. Williams. If not, we were going to get caught and it was going to be a crazy story., And now that we've diverted from that path, we feel liberated, Warren tells me, waving his arms around the room. The crew arrived in New York City early Sunday morning. Serving a seven-year prison sentence following his involvement in a notorious heist (portrayed in the film American Animals), Spencer Reinhard was committed to not losing "the best years of his life." He turned to his own art, determined to refine his craft and technique. We werent, like, hardened criminals, so we kind of had to really put up a front. Warren deepens his voice: How ya doing? That kind of stuff. After an awkward back-and-forth, Warren finally handed the man the $500. You know, most people look at that painting as if it was a plan destined to fail, but at the same time, we were planning to fail., In a few years we'll be released. I think we all knew that we wanted something different, and we had to break away from where we were living. In early 2006, they began serving their sentences in federal prison, with no possibility for parole. When Halloran inquired about them, Spencer spoke up and offered to fetch them from the car. When I get up there, B.J. is parked in front of the library and the four are in 1st Position at bottom of stairs of library.. I guess when we did that she went upstairs to check on B.J.. I see Warren and Eric bust out of the back door, Spencer says, describing what he saw unfold from his lookout position. They tried to come up with some link the cops could make between them and the theft, but they couldnt. All reinhard art prints ship within 48 hours and include a 30-day money-back guarantee. In early February 2005, the F.B.I. onto nearby Fourth Street and careened through traffic before stopping a mile farther on, in front of a predominantly black housing project. (Because Spencer was a Transy student, he risked being recognized in the library.) Ink transfer refers to my unique process of removing the ink from magazine pages and suspending it in layers of gel medium. I'd heard about them before, but I didn't know anything about them. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Phase 2 involves the actual theft, and begins when Spencer takes his position at an upper-floor window of the nearby athletic center, where he will be on lookout. The meeting initially hit a snag when Barry was put off by the boys youth. [Beckman] said, B.J., a nickname her friends and colleagues used for her, she told officers. 1.7K Followers. As they scooted down the stairs their arms gave out and they stopped to catch their breath. We did the robbery as a way to escape, Eric says. She described one of the young men as about six feet tall, with bleached-blond hair, well dressed in a nice suit, and very talkative. See, we have no choice now but to create something new, someplace else. Serving a seven-year prison sentence following his involvement in a notorious heist (portrayed in the film American Animals), Spencer Reinhard was committed to not losing the best years of his life. He turned to his own art, determined to refine his craft and technique. Just days before their arrests the three even took in a movie: Oceans 12. 2023 Cond Nast. Warren called Gooch back to change Walter Beckman's appointment to three P.M. On the morning of December 16, Warren's carefully scripted plan began to unravel almost immediately. Though they attended different high schools, both were varsity captains, and both made all-state. Leave a message. A Google search of Spencer Reinhard brought up numerous hits for soccer in the Lexington area. opens the door for me and I'm just like, Holy shit. I quickly came up with some fake name and started walking in and I'm like, Oh, shit, this is gonna happen at any moment. So while I'm shutting the doors I look back and Warren took her to the ground. The truth is, but for one big mistake, they probably would have gotten away with it, an L.P.D. Spencers life story and his practice are indelibly linked, thus the works he has created are a highly personal meditation on the journey Spencer Reinhard experienced. It was definitely a terrifying thing. Quit struggling, B.J., or do you want to feel more pain? she remembered the man saying. After researching auction houses online, Warren singled out Christies in New York. The contact, who identified himself only as Barry, stipulated that Warren had to bring $500 in good-faith money. The actor thanked his fans for all their kind words. The contact, who identified himself only as Barry, stipulated that Warren had to bring $500 in good-faith money. I never intended to paint them and I resisted the idea but in the end I couldn't help but indulge the irony. 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. During our interview Eric told me, He was like just a weight on us. Fuck Biden, Dont Tread on Me, and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. The day of the heist was to be Thursday, December 16, one of the last days of final examsthe library would be nearly empty. I guess when we did that she went upstairs to check on B.J.. In fact, they all tell me that as the planning picked up in the months before the heist, the three of them came to believe that it was their best and perhaps last chance to create a viable life for themselves after college. Despite the differing temperamentsand the disapproval of Spencer's parentsthe two were best friends from the age of eight, a friendship that revolved largely around soccer. With a long, thin face and bleached-blond hair and sideburns, he appeared younger than Gooch had expected. 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. It had been agreed that Warren, with his smooth talk, and Spencer, with his artistic knowledge, would go to the meeting. from an unsuspecting friend and got his hands on zip ties, a wool cap, electrician's tape, and bedsheets. A painting by Reinhard, a gifted artist, may offer some clues. When an agent called, he got a voice-mail recording, This is Spence. The other was short and quiet, wearing a yellow jacket two sizes too large and a matching scarf. A week later came a terse reply, telling Terry that, if he wanted to sell something, he was going to have to come in person to Amsterdam, as that is where I do business. Both Spencer and Warren were thrilleduntil they realized it would require traveling with a passport. agents poured in over the wreckage. Having concluded that the next logical stage of his development was to study art in college he enrolled at Transylvania University in Kentucky. Back at Warrens that afternoon, the boys were transfixed by local coverage of the Transy Book Heist.. Spencer, meanwhile, was short, wiry, distant, and in many ways Warren's opposite: an over-scheduled, over-achieving, diamond-tipped drill of a kid who excelled at whatever he set himself to. They all pled guilty to federal charges of robbery and. A few minutes later, a short, dark-haired young man, also dressed in a winter coat, cap, and gloves, entered the library. [Warren's] like, Come on up, Eric remembers. as we left we were going to make an anonymous phone call so they knew she was up here, Eric continues. Not what I expected, not what I wanted it to be, Warren says. The L.P.D. As they ran, they stumbled again into Chas, who had returned in another car as promised, just in time to save them and drive Eric to U.K. for his tennis-class exam. Ive met with them, Eric continues. Before rendering her decision, the judge made preliminary findings that each of the boys was equally culpable, that the value of the books stolen would include only those physically removed from the building, and although Gooch suffered no bodily injury, the stun pen was in fact a dangerous weapon. The painting, in digital form, would become a popular screen saver on the F.B.I. Over the phone and by e-mail, Beckman had asked to view, among other items, a first edition of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species and four double-size folios of John James Audubons Birds of America. We spoke about his paintings, especially A Plan to Fail. It was just funny because we've been in a lot of places that they've been, Eric says. The F.B.I. Lifting a technique straight from the film Reservoir Dogs, Warren assigned code names based on color. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Who do we trust?. Improvising on the plan, he kicked Eric and Warren out on the street, believing three men in a gray minivan would draw too much attention. When they arrived on campus in the replacement G.T.A.V., they couldnt find a parking space anywhere near the library. Having told their parents that they were going on a ski trip to West Virginia, that weekend they loaded the loot into Eric's Ford Explorer and took off on the 12-hour drive to New York for their Christie's appointment. Just days before their arrests the three even took in a movie: Ocean's 12. As she inspected the items, Halloran dutifully took notes, then asked a few questions regarding their provenance, which Spencer answered as best he could under the circumstances. According to the revised plan, they would ditch the old-man disguises and only Warren and Eric would enter the library. Warren had run up the side of the hill and frantically ran off. Seeing something in the wayward Warren, the preppy grifter pitched him the idea of selling fake Kentucky driver's licenses in the U.K. dorms. After four years in New Jersey I was released back to Lexington where I lived with my parents and continued to paint. We had a few pitchers, feeling each other out. They jump in the van and peel out around the loop.. Eric couldn't get hold of his friend's car, leaving Chas to borrow a Dodge Caravan his mother was fortuitously selling the next day, the boys say. I still feel like I have a long way to go to reach my full potential, and I think Jamaica will be an integral step in that direction., American visual artist Spencer Reinhard, an artist-in-residence at Blue Macaw in Boscobel, St. Mary, The ornithologist in Spencer Reinhard takes gaze. In terms of the dollar amount involved and the extraordinary circumstances, the theft was one of the most significant in its history. Because no one would go to Christies with stolen books to get them appraisedthats how we did a lot of stuff, like, we would smoke weed directly under the [security] camera on the Transy campus, park a car right underneath it and then smoke for like an hour. Dressed for success in a tailored dark-blue suit his parents had bought for special occasions and future job interviews, Warren cultivated the young-conservative look, using a Windsor knot on his red tie and giving his wing tips a last-minute buff. 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. All Rights Reserved. Warren introduced himself as Mr. Williams. Like Barry, the men were immediately put off by Warrens youth, and even more so by the fact that he hadnt brought any of the books with him to Amsterdam. Were going to need more people, Warren remembers thinking. They climbed onto dorm roofs, where they'd stake out the library for hours at a time, marking down the comings and goings of teachers, students, and security personnel. Spencer, feeling increasingly disaffected with school life himself, readily accepted the offer. Handwriting can be an important piece of evidence in a criminal investigation. In all my art classes I was the only guyin with a bunch of girls who didnt have any idea what they wanted to do. How the hell would we do this? And he said, I know a guy in New York.. After a brief discussion they chose Chas Allen, a handsome, clean-cut U.K. business major who had started the lawn-care company with Eric the previous summer. What they would tell me, then, is their version of eventsand the only complete account of the planning, execution, and aftermath of the heist. By far the most common theory around town was that the heist had been just a frat prank that spun way out of control. Cops entered the basement, a dank pit reeking of marijuana, and found Warren sprawled out on a mattress. Spencer Reinhard Please send me the price list, I am interested in purchasing an original Reinhard After Audubon 2014 to Present After prison I took up a casual interest in birds. Again, Warren thought otherwise. 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. He was still enrolled, but only nominally, and remained on the fringes of campus life. believing that they had escaped with next to nothing. Far from being social outcasts, they had been popular athletes, and two were on some form of college scholarship. And that's when I came up. I took my zip ties and I put them around her feet and put them around her arms. It was about at that point that Gooch remembers Warren saying, Quit struggling, B.J., or do you want to feel more pain?. and local detectives. When she asked for contact information, Spencer gave her his cell-phone number. By far the most common theory was that the heist had been just a frat prank that spun way out of control. Each has a different style of facial hairmuttonchops (Lipka), a Fu Manchu (Borsuk), a Tom Selleck (Reinhard)which Lipka informs me they had carefully trimmed for my visit. It was only a tennis final, Eric says, but that final that day was actually harder than I thought it was going to be. Phase 3 is the escape, which involves switching the G.T.A.V. Despite the differing temperamentsand the disapproval of Spencers parentsthe two were best friends from the age of eight, a friendship that revolved largely around soccer. All four were brought to Lexington police headquarters and individually interrogated by F.B.I. 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. That afternoon they worked their way back uptown, to scope out Christie's steel-and-glass headquarters before their Tuesday appointment. The meeting lasted no more than 15 minutes, but still, it was a turning point because the men explained to Warren a crucial step of selling rare books, stolen or otherwise: appraisal by a legitimate auction house. 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. We can do a license, but now we need a passport. So he says, Come see me in a couple of days or a week, but I need money, $2,500. All right, you know, just another thing, O.K., 2,500 bucks. To be such a big part of her life has been a joy. 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. opens the door for me and Im just like, Holy shit. I quickly came up with some fake name and started walking in and Im like, Oh, shit, this is gonna happen at any moment. So while Im shutting the doors I look back and Warren took her to the ground. Because the boys pleaded guilty, many of the case's crucial details remain unknown even to law enforcement. American Animals brings to the silver screen the story of the Transy Book Heist of 2004, where four students tried to steal $12 million worth of arts and books from the Special Collections Library . The meeting was scheduled for the next morning on the southern edge of Central Park near the Plaza Hotel. They had reserved a room in the same Midtown Hilton that Spencer and Warren had stayed in nearly a year earlier. In exchange, Barry slipped him an e-mail address with instructions to sign off any communication with the name Terry. . By five P.M., Warrenas Beckmanwas back on the phone with Gooch explaining that he had missed his appointment because he had been out of town on business. More important, the basement was secluded. A painting by Reinhard, a gifted artist, may offer some clues. Now we can't ever go back there. The plan for the actual robbery sets out three distinct phases. Opposite him there is another young man, fully fleshed and with a neat haircut, resting in a chair, staring into space. Aside from harming B. J. Gooch, Spencer, Warren, and Eric maintain that they have no regrets. All four, now 22, children of privilege, products of elite Lexington high schools, are serving seven-year sentences for their parts in the crime. I took my zip ties and I put them around her feet and put them around her arms. It was about at that point that Gooch remembers Warren saying, Quit struggling, B.J., or do you want to feel more pain?. There were all sorts of theories as to why they had done it: they were drug addicts; they had amassed large gambling debtsor Lipkas father had, and the boys did it to save the familys honor (the variant most popular with the local papers). Im not sure, but it was a lot. 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. As she inspected the items, Halloran dutifully took notes, then asked a few questions regarding their provenance, which Spencer answered as best he could under the circumstances. He said, You do that and you are free then to give them to us when you can. O.K., great. 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.. A uniformed doorman cheerily welcomed both boys into the lobby, where they informed reception that they were there for Mr. Walter Beckman's appointment with Thomas Leckey, Christie's rare-book specialist. This is the story you didnt get from the film. If not, we were going to get caught and it was going to be a crazy story., And now that weve diverted from that path, we feel liberated, Warren tells me, waving his arms around the room. Then, everything becomes meta. With each taking one end of the Audubons, they made their way to the staff-only elevator. I was surprised he didn't.. At only $200 a month, the price was right, as Warren was broke after having shut down his and Spencer's fake-ID business and dropping out of U.K. for the semester to focus full-time on the heist. That was the plan. He also didn't have photos, photocopies, documentation, or even the slightest ability to intelligently discuss the books. Phase 1 ends when the G.T.A.V. What becomes apparent, as first faintly and then irreversibly, is the painting as a negative apotheosis of color and form, which Reinhardt defended himself against. He was still enrolled, but only nominally, and remained on the fringes of campus life. Photographed by Nan Goldin at the tender age of 19, just about to release his Tony Richardson film. Spencer was born in 1984 in Lexington Kentucky. Behind the main building and through three blastproof security doors is the prison visitors' room, where I meet separately with Likpa, Reinhard, and Borsuk for a series of interviews almost a year into their sentence. For Spencer it all started with a series of mild disappointments. (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.) Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Eric dropped the books, and he and Warren made a run for it. The meeting initially hit a snag when Barry was put off by the boys' youth. It is more important to get a plan down, as flawed as it may be, and then continue to work on it as the entrepreneur would work on their business over time. 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 L.P.D. Nothing like a six year prison sentence to get the creative juices flowing. Warren, under an alias, would make an appointment with Gooch for that afternoon to view the books they wanted to steal. Once the boys were inside the library, students stared at the ridiculous old-man disguises. They tried to come up with some link the cops could make between them and the theft, but they couldn't. American Animals, the 2018 biopic, written and directed by The Tinder Swindlers Bart Layton, is an acclaimed cinematic account of a younger Reinhard, a then Transylvania University junior whose plot to steal one of the rarest of US art history titles naturalist icon John James Audubons 1827 tome Birds of America as well as a first-edition Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin - led to guilty pleas from Reinhard and three chums, who paid the price: seven-year convictions across the board. It was during his studies at Transylvania University that Spencer became aware of John James Audubons work, The Birds of America. They stopped talking entirely and disbanded. A uniformed doorman cheerily welcomed both boys into the lobby, where they informed reception that they were there for Mr. Walter Beckmans appointment with Thomas Leckey, Christies rare-book specialist. and having to sign a fucking book. By hitting the ball back into Warrens court, Spencer thought he would keep that thrilling flicker of criminality burning for a bit longer, while fully expecting there to be an insurmountable obstacle somewhere down the road. We need to just get over this stuff, Eric tells me, explaining how Warren re-entered his life after their falling-out the previous semester. A witness had written down a license-plate number, but it was way off. He scored a joint before checking into a hole-in-the-wall and falling asleep. Among them was the 2002 photo from the Lexington Herald-Leader of Spencer and Warren playing soccer. ). I was expecting to play soccer quite a lot, but the coach was a completely different person once I got on the team, he tells me. Yet he did allow and encourage the interpretation of his art as an abrogation of space and time and, above all, history. Twelve million dollars, just sitting there? We did the robbery as a way to escape, Eric says. Im not going to lie. For Spencer it all started with a series of mild disappointments. Before rendering her decision, the judge made preliminary findings that each of the boys was equally culpable, that the value of the books stolen would include only those physically removed from the building, and although Gooch suffered no bodily injury, the stun pen was in fact a dangerous weapon. Late one Thursday afternoon in mid-February, the two friends bought a bag of weed and drove the 700 miles to Manhattan in Spencer's Acura Legend. Spencer would communicate with Warren from a cell phone, which Warren would steal from a student in the morning. Spencer elected not to consider his consequent incarceration as the loss of his best years, but rather sought to salvage his fledgling artist career by utilising his time to develop his practice and to consider new methods and media. They also noticed a group of people lingering in the Rare Book Room. As a child he drew and painted and his abilities led him to consider a career as an artist whilst at High School. When Warren arrived, he saw a man fitting that description seated with three other men. 's computers. But after stewing in the magnitude of the potential dollar amount involved, and once convinced of the ease of the heist, the logic of the appraisal, and the legitimacy of Warren's Amsterdam connections, they say, he threw his lot in with the others. When they arrived on campus in the replacement G.T.A.V., they couldn't find a parking space anywhere near the library. He added: Its always nice to be with people that are familiar with the area, and Ive been made to feel very welcome. 214 E Main StLexington, KY United States 40507, (Shift + Enter to play/pause. Spencer received a commission to paint murals at a local school and kept up his soccer training, Eric started a lawn-care business with his friend Chas Allen, and Warren landed a job at a local day camp. 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. Quote tagged! Afterward, Warren and Spencer briefed the others, and the four went to lunch, where, the boys say, Chas insisted they spend another night in New York and attempt to see Mr. Leckey the next day.
Is Dumpster Diving Illegal In Prattville Alabama,
Articles A
Najnowsze komentarze