Sunday, February 3, 2019

"Thieves stole architectural gems from USC in a heist that remained hidden for years"

LAT:
Six years after the heist at the USC warehouse, the identities of the perpetrators remain a mystery.

There is a second puzzle: Why didn’t the university report the theft to police at the time or seek the public’s help in recovering the irreplaceable pieces?

Detectives only learned of the larceny in recent weeks, after an anonymous letter to the Los Angeles Times revealed the crime.

...

The Times approached USC about the alleged theft in mid-January. A university spokeswoman expressed skepticism, saying that even the most minor infractions are documented by the campus police and shared with administrators. It strained credulity, she said, that a suspected felony involving priceless works of art had gone unreported.

A search of campus police databases and inquiries to half a dozen employees turned up nothing about a theft, she said. But further investigation by USC’s Office of Professionalism and Ethics, a new unit set up after recent scandals, determined that the tip had merit.

On Jan. 22, campus police filed a report with the LAPD