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Two passengers stole $12,800 worth of artwork from a Carnival Legend cruise, according to the FBI.
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The passengers were caught on surveillance footage taking items from an art gallery on board.
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The FBI is considering pressing charges against the couple for theft and transportation of stolen goods.
According to a search warrant filed in the District Court of Maryland on Tuesday, two passengers stole sculptures worth $12,800 from a Carnival Legend cruise in September, as revealed by the FBI. The cruise started from Baltimore and went to Bermuda between September 24 and September 30, according to FBI special agent Grace Meyer.
The sculptures were discovered missing from the art gallery by an art auctioneer from Carnival Legend on October 1. The FBI stated that security on board reviewed the surveillance footage and saw the couple entering the gallery without anything in hand, but leaving with objects that appeared to be the stolen sculptures on September 29.
Carnival conducts auctions for artwork on all its ships, including paintings, drawings, and sculptures.
The FBI conducted an investigation on the suspects and found one of their Facebook accounts. The FBI later discovered a photo on Facebook of one of the suspects wearing a white shirt, dark vest, and striped tie, matching the clothing worn by one of the suspects in the surveillance footage.
The FBI executed a search warrant and found the stolen sculptures at the couple’s homes in Baltimore, according to a spokesperson from the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland, as reported by ABC News. The FBI is currently deliberating whether to press charges for theft and transportation of stolen goods.
The stolen sculptures include “Kiss the Sea” by Robert Wyland, valued at $6,200, and “Tappin’ the Keys for the Love” by Marcus Glenn, valued at $6,600, both of which can fit in a regular-sized backpack.
This is not the first time the FBI has recovered stolen artwork. In October, the FBI recovered a 300-year-old painting that was stolen from a German museum in 1945 from a Chicago resident. In April 2018, the FBI recovered a painting that had been missing for 30 years from a man with ties to a Bulgarian syndicate.
The names of the two passengers were mentioned in the FBI search warrant but are not being published by Insider as they have not been charged. Both the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland did not respond immediately to Insider’s requests for comment.
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