Rembrandt Drawing Stolen From Marina Del Rey Hotel In Slick Heist

MARINA DEL REY (CBS/AP) — A drawing by Rembrandt, valued at $250,000, has been stolen from a hotel in Southern California in what sheriff's investigators say was a well-planned heist.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore says the quill pen-and-ink drawing, called "The Judgment," was nabbed Saturday while a curator was distracted by a guest at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey. When the curator turned back to the display, the Dutch master's lithograph was gone.

Investigators are studying surveillance video from the hotel. Officials are asking anyone who spotted anything suspicious to contact the sheriff's department.

Whitmore says "The Judgment," which was dated circa 1655, was valued at $250,000.

The lithograph was part of an exhibit at the hotel sponsored by San Francisco's Linearis Institute.

Whitmore says he believe security video of the theft is available.

"But that video surveillance may in fact help us tremendously in moving toward solving this (theft)," he said.

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