The thief was a sports fan, it seems. Ten pieces by pop art king Andy Warhol – showing famous sports figures – were swiped from a home in West Los Angeles, according to local police. The 40 square inch silkscreens were stolen around September 2 and September 3. The owner, businessman Richard Weisman, is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the multimillion dollar collection.

Times may be tough for the art market, but a large collection of Warhols is still definitely worth a $1 million reward.

The paintings were displayed in Weisman's living room, and the doors to the house were locked. Nobody's sure how the thieves got into the house ... well, nobody knows but the thieves (obviously). The family nanny noticed that the paintings were missing and dashed off to a neighbor's house to call the police.

Among the missing are pieces depicting O.J. Simpson, Pele, Chris Evert and Muhammad Ali. The exact value of the collection is unknown, but Weisman had tried to sell it for $3 million in 2002. In 2007, of course, Warhol became the top seller at auction worldwide, so even in the current art slump, it's hard to imagine the collection hasn't appreciated.

Other artwork in the house was untouched, and the home had not been ransacked, leading the police to believe that the thieves were only interested in Warhol.

So, once again, the LAPD is trying to track down O.J.

The small seaside town of Laguna Beach, California has been the setting for a reality television show and boasts plenty of multi-million dollar homes. What it doesn't have is a lot of crime which makes the news of a big jewelry robbery in the small town quite surprising. The OC Register reports that three armed men robbed a local jewelry store and got away with more than a half-million dollars worth of jewelry. The three men showed up at the Joshi and Baca jewelry at closing time on Tuesday and held up an employee at gunpoint. Locals who passed by the store reported the crime and the police showed up and caught up with the robbers on a local road. The robbers ditched their car in a shopping plaza and ran away. Some of the jewels were recovered from the car. The police are following several leads.

Does it seem like there have been more robberies this year? The statistics from Jeweler's Security Alliance show that this year they have seen a total of $45.9 million stolen with 682 cases. Compare this to last year's total of $48.4 million with 713 cases and it looks like this year is trending to beat last year's numbers.

John Kennedy of Jeweler's Security Alliance says that while robberies are up, the total dollar losses from jewelry crime is steady to down. He says there may be a few more of what he calls the "most crude jewelry crimes, such as a grab and run or a window smashing" but that the big dollar and violent crimes are not subject to the ups and downs of the economy. According to Kennedy none of the studies indicate that the economy has a significant influence and that crime can rise in prosperous years. Because jewelry stores have stronger security measures than many other businesses they are always not targets of the suddenly desperate. One less thing to blame on the economy.

Police in Los Angeles have questioned celebutante Paris Hilton after several of her new neighbors' cars were vandalized including a $1.4 million Bugatti Veyron. The incident occurred on Monday night at the starlet's Hollywood Hills house where she's just moved back in following a long renovation. Hilton threw a welcome back party that went on until 4 a.m., causing neighbors to complain to the police, TMZ reports. The same neighbors woke up to find their cars keyed and egged, apparently in revenge. In addition to the Veyron, two Bentleys and two Maseratis were also trashed. The cops are still investigating.

The financial crisis has led to same very interesting stories that seem ready made to be a tv movie. Take for example the case of Marcus Schrenker, an Indianapolis financial manager, who appears to have tried to fake his own death by crashing his Piper PA-46 into a Florida swamp. The crash happened after investigators began looking closely at the three companies he owns, Heritage Wealth Management, Heritage Insurance Services and Icon Wealth Management for possible securities violations and claims that he may have defrauded investors. His wife, Michelle Schrenker filed for divorce at the end of last year.

Schrenker took off Sunday night in the plane flying from Anderson, Indiana to Destin, Florida. He never made it to Destin. Instead he frantically called air traffic controllers saying that the windshield had shattered that he was bleeding and in trouble. Radio contact was then lost. The plane was later found near the Blackwater River in the Florida panhandle very close a neighborhood. No blood was found on the plane. It's believed now that Schrenker parachuted out of the plane near Birmingham, Alabama. In Childersburg, Alabama which is around 35 miles away, Schrenker approached a police officer and said he'd been in a canoe accident. They took him to a hotel where he checked in under a fake name. He later fled into the woods and is being pursued by Alabama police. They now think he took off on a motorcycle which he kept in storage under a different name.

Schrenker is a trained acrobatic pilot. True Crime Report has his YouTube stunt flying video. Schrenker also tried to offer money management services to pilots at one point.

UPDATE: Schrenker may be in custody in Florida.

I don't generally write about jewelry theft but when a Harry Winston boutique gets robbed you have to pay attention. Last weekend, thieves took approximately €20 million in jewels from the Harry Winston store. It is one of the largest jewel thefts ever. The masked and armed men entered the store on Saturday morning and got the employees to open the safe. They took off with a bag of gems that included a €3.2 million diamond-studded bracelet and a large diamond worth €2 million. The police believe the robbers are professionals and they hope to try and catch the thieves when they try to resell the merchandise. The thieves will have to move fast, the investigators are distributing information about the specific stolen pieces around the world.

Normally a kiss as a sign of affection is a good thing, but when it happens in an art gallery on a $2.7 million dollar painting it's not only not a good thing -- it's a crime. It happened last Thursday in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Avignon, France. The woman, 30-year-old Sam Rindy, had apparently been admiring a 9'x6' bone white painting by Cy Twombly valued at over £1 million and was suddenly overcome and just had to kiss it. She's quoted as saying "The artist left this white for me."

Yeah, well it's not white anymore since there's a lipstick imprint left behind. Ms. Rindy is awaiting trial on August 16 for "damage to a work of art."

How stupid can you be?