Art Caper Caught on Camera

A local bar owner hopes video of two con artists stealing valuable artwork will help find the paintings and the men who stole them. It happened Monday night at Torch Velvet Lounge on King Street in Charleston.

Four years ago Mike Vitale says he opened torch to try and add some class to upper king street.

“It’s kind of an urban sheik kind of atmosphere more upscale,“ he says.

Camoflauged by the velvet curtains, plush furniture, and fancy artwork on the walls are hidden surveillance cameras. Cameras Mike says he’s never reviewed until now.

He says two men walked in a little after two in the morning as the bar was closing.

“There were all regulars in here. Everybody knew each other except for the two guys that happened to walk in here from Henry’s.“

He says they bought two Julio Cotto paintings using stolen credit cards,  put the art in their car and then came back in. One of them distracted the bar tender as the other walked out with two more paintings.

“They already had a story rehearsed,“ he says “The story was consistent.“

He says it all happened in about an hour. Four paintings were stolen all together.

Like most bars and restaurants, Torch isn’t in the habit of checking names on credit cards or matching Id’s with the cards so they didn’t know at the time they were stolen.
As far as the other two pieces go, some of the art is mounted inside. These, he says were obviously not.

Mike says they will consider making some changes in light of what happened.

He is offering a $2,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the men who stole the art.

The paintings are the work of local artist Julio Cotto. Cotto has been ranked best local visual artist four years in a row by Charleston Magazine.

The total value of all four paintings is estimated to be around $7,200.