I talked this morning to the Hot Springs sculptor Jeanfo about the theft last week of 12 steel sculptures from the open sculpture garden at his Rugg Street studio. Police apprehended one suspect at a scrap yard where he was selling the metal.
Jeanfo said the works were worth a total of about $90,000. He said only nine sculptures were recovered from the scrap yard, so three are still missing. He said one person could not have possibly stolen the works without help, and he hoped to get more information from the police. The artist is 82; he has lived in Hot Springs for 25 years.
A report from KTHV said the suspect, Sam Dewayne Brown, 50, of Hot Springs got $100 for the steel from the scrap metal yard, on Gaines Avenue. The station said he's been charged with one count of theft by receiving over $25,000 and is being held in lieu of $5,000 bond.
The station also reported the sculpture's worth as $200,000, far more than Jeanfo told me this morning. It also said six, not nine, sculptures were recovered. My call into the Hot Springs police to get everything straightened out has not been returned.