Police Rescue 53 Stolen Rugs

Police rescue stolen antiques from auction: "Police rescue stolen antiques from auction
LITTLE COMPTON – Little Compton police Tuesday arrested Theodore M. Sacharko, 48, of 146 West Main Road in connection with a series of eight burglaries of unoccupied homes in Little Compton and others in Westport. Late that same day, some of the stolen goods rolled back into town aboard a moving truck. The Little Compton resident is charged with eight counts of breaking and entering and eight counts of larceny over $500. Arraignment took place Wednesday morning in court in Newport.

According to Sergeant Kennedy Hawes of the Little Compton police department, Mr. Sacharko is cooperating with police, who are investigating "at least one other person of interest." Sergeant Hawes declined to comment further or to indicate whether the individual is local.


Officer Patrick Martin of Little Compton (left) and Rich Hosier, a mover from Arnoff Moving & Storage, carefully unload a recovered dresser.

The quantity of plunder recovered was so great, and its bulk, fragility, and value were so unique, that it took professional movers and a 25-foot moving van — at a cost a bit over $8,000 — to return the stolen objects to Little Compton.

Most of the goods stolen have been recovered. Police estimate the conservative value of all the stolen property at over $250,000.

Victims whose property was stolen were being contacted, and according to Sergeant Hawes "we're having a fantastic reaction. They are overjoyed."

The stolen property, now inventoried and photographed, will be held on display in the Little Compton police station. Its owners will be asked to set up a time to come in, and identify and retrieve what is theirs.

Eight burglaries of unoccupied homes in this community between Sept. 25 and Dec. 8 had police chasing multiple leads. Objects taken from all residences included antique furniture, at least 53 oriental rugs, old paintings, china, some jewelry, one-of-a-kind art objects, and assorted other collectibles.

The method of entry was crude: doors and windows were kicked in. Not one of the homes had an alarm system or video camera. Police said the thefts bespoke planning and foreknowledge and they added that Mr. Sachark had returned more than once to some of the residences broken into.

The break in the case appears to have come when pictures of some of the items stolen from one of the victims were sent to Detective Kevin Sullivan, a Newport police officer, who in turn sent them to an art dealer friend in Newport.

That dealer on Saturday, Jan. 8 discovered that an auction house in Saugerties, New York (North River Auction Gallery) had some of the stolen paintings on its web page, and that an auction was scheduled for Sunday, Jan 9 at 11:30 a.m.

Little Compton police were notified, and contacted friends of the victim whose photographs had been sent to Detective Sullivan. The friends, William and Nancy Nightingale of Little Compton, were able to confirm that many of the items up for auction were stolen.

At midnight Saturday Little Compton Police Chief Sidney Wordell and Sergeant Hawes left for Saugerties, New York.

Early Sunday morning they met with New York state police, and on the strength of the evidence they had gathered immediately went to North River Auction Gallery.

That was when they say they found Mr. Sacharko retrieving items the gallery would not accept for auction, and arrested him. Mr. Sacharko waived extradition and was returned to Little Compton.

Items from more than one of the burglaries were then discovered to be up for sale at the gallery, and were removed from the auction.

According to Mr.Nightingale, Mr. Sacharko was staying in Saugerties with his wife, and had a car and a van with stolen goods in them. Mr. Nightingale said that Chief Wordell learned during the questioning of Mr. Sacharko that he had taken some of the stolen goods to auction houses in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and at least one had conducted an auction.

Police stress that North River Auction Gallery had no knowledge that the goods had been stolen. Mr. Sacharko, police said, had entered into a consignment agreement with the gallery claiming he was the rightful owner, and that the gallery had completely cooperated with police investigators.

By Tom Killin Dalglish"