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Thieves made quick work of an early morning heist at a Kelowna art gallery.
Within a matter of minutes, the pair of suspects made off with almost $70,000 worth of art work from Gallery 421.
The alarm system for the gallery at 560 Raymer Ave., was activated at 1:58 a.m. Saturday.
Gallery co-owner Kelly Hanna said the thieves “completed the heist by 2:02 a.m., escaping with 11 pieces of fine art worth just under $70,000 and weighing 315 pounds in total.”
The thieves took only sculptures and did not touch any of the other works of art in the gallery, leading Hanna to suspect they knew exactly what they wanted.
“It was a bit curious that they were so specific,” said Hanna. “They didn’t damage the gallery at all. They just got in, grabbed the pieces and got out.”
The first thief was a 5’10’’ tall male, of medium build wearing a grey hoodie, blue pants with white stripe and white runners.
The second thief was a 5’6’’ tall male, of medium build wearing a dark hoodie and black Adidas shoes.
Hanna said the stolen work included a bronze sculpture by Vilem Zach and Michael Hermesh, a stone sculpture by Vance Theoret and blown glass by Jeff Holmwood.
The gallery is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individuals.
This is the second time the gallery has been broken in to.
Hanna, and her partner Ken Moen, purchased the gallery in 2019 and were broken into in January 2020.
In that robbery, thieves smashed the glass in the front door and made off with a computer.
