Man Arrested For Stealing $300K In Art From San Francisco Home
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A man who attempted to steal an estimated $300,000 in paintings from a home in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood has been arrested, a police spokesman said Monday.
Shortly before 5 p.m. on Sunday, a real estate agent at a home in the 3000 block of Washington Street, near Alta Plaza Park, reported a man who was apparently not authorized to be on the premises, according to San Francisco police spokesman Officer Carlos Manfredi.
Manfredi told KPIX 5 that the man started squatting at the home two moths ago. The home had been vacant for at least five years.
"He advised the officers that he was in the process of being the proprietor of this home and taking ownership of this home," Manfredi said.
"For a person to generate some type of documentation, some type of form that shows that he has some proprietary rights to stay in this house, it is a little more sophisticated than the average squatter."
That story held up until San Francisco police contacted the real estate agent, who said that was not the case.
The real estate agent told the suspect, later identified as 39-year-old Jeremiah Henry Kaylor, to leave the property, Manfredi said.
Jeremiah Kaylor is accused of squatting in a vacant home on the 3800 block of Washington Street and attempting to steal $300,000 in art. (San Francisco Police Department)
Kaylor left the home, apparently taking the paintings in a shipping crate via a moving truck, claiming that the items were "junk" that belonged to him, police said.
Officers took Kaylor into custody with the art.
Manfredi said Kaylor was allegedly selling the paintings on social media, including Facebook. "It was nowhere near the range of what the value of these paintings are worth," he said.
Police said Kaylor's last known residence was in Dragoon, Arizona.
The incident remains under investigation.
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