Man Pleads No Contest To Receiving Artwork Stolen In 2008 Heist

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A man who was arrested last year for trying to sell valuable artwork that had been stolen from a home in Encino pleaded no contest Friday to receiving stolen property.

Raul Espinoza, 45, was immediately sentenced to four years and four months in state prison following his plea, which included an admission that the crime involved the taking of more than $500,000, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Espinoza met last Oct. 24 with undercover FBI agents and agreed to sell them nine paintings valued at more than $5 million for $700,000 in cash, according to Deputy District Attorney Marna Miller.

The artwork, which had included Marc Chagall's "Les Paysans" and Diego Rivera's "Mexican Peasant," had been stolen from an Encino home in 2008 while the bedridden owners were inside their home, along with their care-givers.

Authorities said last year that it was one of the largest art heists in Los Angeles history.

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