Felipe dos Santos Fernandes Quadra, 31, arrested this Monday (8) suspected of stealing works of art from the Mário de Andrade municipal library, in the center of São Paulo, did not keep the pieces, according to his defense.
Lawyer Glória Oliveira said the works were stolen by someone else.
Glória said Quadra was a drug user and she had not been able to talk to her about her arrest. She confirmed that the prisoner is indeed the person who appears in the images recorded by the security cameras.
He was identified by police after appearing in video from Smart Sampa cameras, the city hall’s surveillance program, carrying parts out of the unit.
The footage shows the moment the men get out of a parked van and walk along Rua João Adolfo, near the library, around 10 a.m. on Sunday (7). They look to the side as if checking the movement around them.
In the video it can be seen that one of them, dressed in a light t-shirt, takes photos that were in the parked van and walks down the street. The other, dressed in dark clothing, gets out of the vehicle with something that looks like a piece of paper in his hand.
The man in the light t-shirt wears the greatest works. The footage shows him placing them on the ground, leaning against a wall and next to a pile of trash. Then he leaves in a hurry. Meanwhile, the other suspect, wearing a dark blouse, passes by and continues to advance.
Once part of the works is left on the ground, the images are interrupted and it is not possible to know whether they were rescued by someone or whether the suspect himself returned to look for them.
According to the police, the man was arrested during an occupation in Mooca, in the East zone, his cell phone was seized. The police did not find the stolen paintings on site.
Quadra already had criminal records for theft and drug trafficking, according to information from the Court of Justice.
The lawyer confirmed that police were at Quadra’s home Sunday evening, but did not locate him.
She was unable to say whether anyone ordered the items or whether Quadra received money to commit the crime.
The lawyer said his client had been instructed to remain silent and that he was a simple person, not involved in thefts of this magnitude.
“He didn’t know the extent of the economic value of the work and what it really meant,” Oliveira said.
THE THEFT
On Sunday morning, two invaders captured an apparently unarmed security guard and a couple who were visiting the exhibition. They used a canvas bag to carry the works and fled through the main gate, towards the Anhangabaú metro.
The case is being investigated by the 1st Cerco (Specialized Center for the Repression of Crimes and Miscellaneous Facts).
In total, 13 works of art were stolen: eight engravings by Henri Matisse, which are part of the book “Jazz”, and five by Portinari, which illustrate the work “Menino de Engenho”, by José Lins do Rego, published in 1959 by the Sociedade dos Cem Bibliófilos do Brasil.
The stolen works were part of the exhibition “From Book to Museum: MAM São Paulo and the Mário de Andrade Library”, which addresses the formation of modern art in Brazil, with free entry and scheduled to close this Sunday.
The total value of the stolen works could reach 4.5 million reais. The eight Matisse prints would each be worth around R$500,000, and R$100,000 each in the case of the Brazilian, according to art market experts.
The vehicle used in the escape was located, seized and sent for technical examination. Investigations are continuing to identify the second person involved and locate the stolen works.
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