Metro

Cultured crook breaks window of Staten Island home, steals $500K painting: cops

By
Amanda Woods
Published May 22, 2025, 4:38 p.m. ET

A crook smashed his way inside a Staten Island home and fled with a half-million-dollar painting by a world-renowned artist, cops said. 

The unidentified burglar broke a window and slipped into the home on tree-lined Tottenville Place near Wards Point Avenue around 9 a.m. on May 15, police said. 

The thief then ripped off the $500,000 painting, titled “City Gleaners” by T.F. Chen, authorities said.

The thief ripped off a $500,000 painting, titled "City Gleaners" by T.F. Chen, from a home in Tottenville, Staten Island, authorities said.
The thief ripped off a $500,000 painting, titled “City Gleaners” by T.F. Chen, from a home in Tottenville, Staten Island, authorities said. NYPD

T.F. Chen – also an art historian, writer and philosopher – founded the T. F. Chen Cultural Center in NYC, and he has put on more than 100 one-man exhibitions worldwide, . 

No one was home at the time of the heist, including the owner of the painting, a 68-year-old woman, cops said.

Anyone with information about the sophisticated swindler is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). 

The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at , on X @NYPDTips.