Police arrested a 74-year-old Summer Street man Sunday afternoon after he apparently tried to steal a $1,500 painting from a Cherry Street consignment shop.
At about 3:20 p.m., a store employee spotted the man running past the store window carrying the painting—an oil-on-canvas still life that recently had been marked down to $1,050, according to a police report.
The worker followed the man to a parking lot and confronted him, the report said. When asked what he was doing with the painting, the man responded that he wanted to see it in the natural light, the report said. She took the painting back and phoned police, the report said.
The man had been in the store, browsing, earlier in the day, the worker later told police. He had been looking at a lamp and said he’d be back in around 5 p.m. to buy it, the report said.
She had the man’s name and police found him at home, the report said. He was released on $1,000 bond and scheduled to appear May 4 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.