This crook had great taste, but terrible business sense.
A laborer stole about 40 paintings valued at $550,000 from posh Hamptons homes during a two-month spree that ended after he tried to sell some to a Long Island dealer, who called police, cops revealed yesterday.
Angel Palencia’s victims included lawyer and socialite Joanne “Jo” Hallingby, the widow of a Bear Stearns billionaire, whose Southampton house was looted of a dozen paintings worth $250,000 in early February, cops said.
The priciest single painting stolen in January and February was titled “In the Vineyard,” by 19th-century artist Daniel Ridgway Knight. It was valued at $140,000.
Palencia, 24, of Medford, LI, allegedly heisted that piece from a $25.5 million East Hampton home on Lily Pond Lane owned by real-estate honcho Richard Parkoff, and then sold it for just $1,500 to a Mineola antiques store, police said.
Palencia, who may have gotten tipped to the artwork by people with knowledge of the homes, was charged with burglary and grand larceny, and held on $500,000 bail yesterday.