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Stéphane Breitwieser, Screen Shot 2021-01-09 at 8.52.54 PM The Richard…

- - - - Breitwieser was proven not to be a kleptomaniac because he admitted to specifically selecting the stolen items and that they "attracted him like a lover". It was obvious that he had an emotional connection to the stolen items and they were not chosen at random.
- - - - Serves 18 months in a Switzerland prison and is then transferred to France to finish his sentence but is released early.
        
        Only serves 2 years.
  - - - Sentenced to 3 years but only served 18 months.
  - - - Given an 18 month sentence but only served 6 months.
- - - - Stole 239 art pieces from 172 museums
  - - - Kept the stolen artwork at her house
        
        Destroyed the artwork by cutting up the paintings, smashing the sculptures, putting it out for trash collection, shoving it down the garbage disposal, and tossing it into a nearby river, right after Stéphane was arrested.
        
        Claims she did not know the artwork was stolen and thought her son had purchased them at auctions. Also claims that she wasn't trying to get rid of evidence but destroyed the artwork because she was angry with her son.
  - - - Assisted Stéphane in stealing
        
        Watched for guards and signalled when people were nearby
- - - - Was at one time banned from Switzerland for three years but ignored this ban because it was his favourite country to steal from.
        
        Caught and arrested in Lucerne, Switzerland
  - - - His second longest consecutive thievery took place between 2006 and 2011
        
        Breitwieser has never truly stopped his thievery for more than a few months besides when he was in prison, he has stolen on and off up until his most recent arrest in 2019
- - - - Claims he is stealing for love, he only stole art that stirred emotion in him because "stealing for money is stupid".
        
        Yet, he admits he enjoyed the idea of being "the wealthiest man in Europe".
    - - Only stole from small museums with low security and went at lunchtime while the staff was rotating.
      - Only stole small items that he could fit under his coat when no one was watching.
        
        Carried a Swiss army knife to cut out painting and roll them to slip under his coat.
      - Moved around to different countries and and never returning to the same museum.
        
        He stole at least once every 15 days and at one point he was stealing something from a different museum everyday for weeks.
      - Dressed sharply with a tailored coat that is slightly too big; and was friendly to the people at the front desk.
      - He memorized the exits, followed the flow of traffic and and counted the number of security guards.
      - He paid attention to placement of security cameras and checked to see whether they had a wire because oftentimes they are fake.
      - He does not wear gloves because his skin provides a better grip and a quicker steal. He's more likely to get caught if he stumbles than through his fingerprints.
- - - - Breitwieser had stolen a bugle from 1584 from the Richard Wagner Museum a few days earlier but his girlfriend was now becoming paranoid about his fingerprints because he did not wear gloves. They return to the museum and are immediately recognized.
        
        A dog walker walking by noticed a man acting strangely outside the museum and remembered that he had read about the theft from that museum in his morning paper.
        
        The dog walker went into the museum and informed the cashier, who looked out the window and immediately recognized Breitwieser.
        
        Breitwieser had a habit of targeting small museums because of their low security, but there's one thing he failed to consider, and it is the reason why he got caught.
        
        The museum was so slow that on the day that Breitwieser visited that only 3 visitors had come the entire day. So once the missing bugle was discovered the suspect list was very small.
    - - Breitwieser gets a new girlfriend and confesses to her about a painting he had recently stolen. His girlfriend disapproves but stays quiet.
        
        Once they breakup the girlfriend goes to the police about the stolen painting and Breitwieser's house is searched.
        
        Thirty more stolen paintings are found in his house and he is arrested again to be sent to trial.
    - - Breitwieser had been under surveillence by authorities since 2016 when he tried to sell a 19th century paperweight on eBay which was believed to be stolen from a museum in France.
        
        When they searched his house in 2019 they found stolen Roman coins along with other stolen artworks from German galleries.
        
        Additionally, €163,000 were found in buckets at his mothers home... so much for his vow to never sell stolen art.
- - - - Some of the museums that were victims of Breitwieser include:
        
        the Crystalware museum in Saint Louis
        
        Richard Wagner Museum in Switzerland
        
        the Rubens House, in Antwerp, Belgium
        
        the Brussels Art & History Museum
        
        Museum of Musical Instruments in Basel, Switzerland
      - Various types of artwork were stolen including: paintings, sculptures, stained glass, pocket watches, daggers, a brass hunting bugle, a gilded ostrich egg, and more. Some of the specific artworks that fell victim to Breitwieser and his accomplices include:
        
        François Boucher’s "The Sleeping Shepherd" which was destroyed in the garbage disposal.
        
        "Princess of Cleves" by Lucas Cranach the Elder
        
        "Sibylle of Cleves" by Lucas Cranach the Younger, thought to be worth approximately $4.8 million, may have been the most valuable piece stolen by Breitwieser.
        
        Albrecht Dürer's gouache of a bat (1522).
        
        “The Monkey’s Ball” by David Teniers
        
        Corneille de Lyon's ''Mary, Queen of Scots,''
        
        Breitwieser only steals handmade items from before the Industrial Revolution. He believes that today's world is too focused on mass production and that even in the small museums these artworks they were not being properly appreciated. Breitwieser felt as though he were rescuing the art, like pets from a shelter, giving them the love and attention they deserve.