Painting stolen from Waynesboro Hospital

October 22, 2008|By JENNIFER FITCH

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- A Hagerstown artist said Tuesday that he has "very little hope" of again seeing his painting recently stolen from inside Waynesboro Hospital, where the art had been displayed as part of an ongoing exhibit.

"I don't know if I should maybe be flattered that they liked my work so much they took it," Clyde Roberts said.

For two years now, the Waynesboro Studio Art Club has displayed between 20 and 25 pieces in the hospital each month to feature area artists. John and Evie Cook place the art around the hospital and put Roberts' "Homestead" in the first-floor hallway not far from the main entrance.

"(Monday) morning, I got a call that said the painting was gone," Evie Cook said.

Waynesboro police were investigating the theft of the painting that Roberts said was valued at $300. He said the frame itself was expensive for the painting, which was about 22-by-28.

"It was a framed snow scene," said Roberts, who said he tried to create a mood by showing a house in the distance as snow was falling.

"I talked to the security person this morning, and he's going to run the tape," Evie Cook said Tuesday, although she said the security camera might have been too far away to catch anything of value.

Evie Cook said she's heard of art being stolen from other area hospitals that also feature displays.

"I had one stolen at the Mansion House in Hagerstown at the end of August," she said.

The Waynesboro woman described being devastated and surprised when the call came about Roberts' work.

"I thought, 'Oh, this can't be happening,'" she said. "I just doubt very much we'll hear anything of it."

"If you wanted a painting that bad, you might have found someone to buy it for you or negotiated with me," Roberts said.

Anyone with information can call police at 717-762-2132.

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