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Tonya Papanikolas reporting Someone has stolen thousands of dollars worth of art from a gallery in the Zions Bank building. The gallery manager says whoever stole it likely got out through underground tunnels which connect downtown buildings.
The walls of the Repartee Art Gallery inside the Deseret Book store are usually filled with religious and secular art. But last Monday when she came in, gallery manager Jo Ann Warner noticed something unusual.
"I immediately noticed that my south wall of the gallery had a piece missing," she said.
An employee soon realized the piece had been moved to a spot where a popular James Christiansen work usually hangs.
"When I realized that piece was missing, I started checking different areas," Warner said.
Inside the canvas drawer, limited edition prints were gone. Downstairs in the storage area, more pictures were missing, most by painter James Christiansen.
"There's about 17 pieces missing," Warner told us. "We're looking at $15,000 to $16,000."
Deseret Book and Zions Security believe that whoever took the art got out through underground tunnels beneath the store.
"There's a tunnel system that goes downstairs and takes you to parking and different areas," Warner said. "Not many people know where it's at."
From the storage closet, the tunnel entrance is just 10 feet away. Inside the tunnel, you can either go right, which leads to a staircase, or straight and then right, which leads up to a freight elevator and apparently more tunnels.
"Someone definitely knew about the tunnel system and where they could go out," Warner said.
This leads police to investigate the possibility of an inside job.
The gallery's storage area also requires a key, and somebody knew right where to get that key. Salt Lake police say they are following a few leads in the case.
There is also a $5,000 reward being offered for information leading to the return of the art.
E-mail: tpapanikolas@ksl.com
