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Career Criminal Hunted for Chelsea Art Heist

By DNAinfo Staff on September 1, 2011 9:31am  | Updated on September 1, 2011 10:00am

The
The "KAWS" acrylic that was stolen Thursday, August 11, 2011.
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NYPD

MANHATTAN — Police believe they’ve identified the mustachioed art thief who stole a KAWS graffiti piece from a Chelsea office building last month.

And it’s not his first run-in with the law.

Enno Tianen, 31, whose mug shot from a previous arrest matches a surveillance image from the August robbery, has a rap sheet that dates back to 1996 and includes numerous charges of assault, property destruction and theft, according to the Municipal Court of Seattle’s online records system.

The most recent infraction is from May 2010, records show.

Tianen, who is also known by the nickname Lewy, is now accused of entering an office building at 40 West 23rd and walking out with a painting by artist Brian Donnelly (a.k.a. KAWS), which features acrylic paint on top of a Kate Moss Calvin Klein ad.

Enno Tianen, who police suspect stole a KAWS graffiti piece from a Chelsea building.
Enno Tianen, who police suspect stole a KAWS graffiti piece from a Chelsea building.
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NYPD

The artwork was stolen from Complex Magazine, which has offices in the building, and is worth $100,000, according to the New York Post.

The thief used a security code to enter the office and then smashed through a glass case to access the painting, the paper also reported.

Public records link Tianen to apartments at 571 Lincoln Place in Crown Heights and 133 Franklin Ave in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.