Posted on 11/08/2007 5:17:11 AM PST by CT-Freeper
WATERBURY -- Fred Catalani never thought much of the paintings his wife hung on the walls and piled in the attic of their Bucks Hill home.
"To be truthful, I hated them, but it made her happy," he said Wednesday night.
Dozens of paintings covered the walls of the couple's Greystone Avenue home. They ranged from portraits and landscapes to religious figures and sailboats.
Catalani said his wife, Diane, suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She hoards all kinds of junk she picks up at tag sales: pot tops without pots, costume jewelry, old shirts and once even brought home an old bicycle without a chain.
He figured the paintings were more of the same.
Catalani said his heart leapt when police told him Monday night that one of those paintings was worth $50,000. He was even more shocked when police said his wife had likely stolen all of them.
"The hard part is I missed it," he said. "I never thought she was stealing."
Police have charged Diane Catalani, 52, with stealing paintings from Chase Collegiate School and The Waterbury Club. They expect to charge her with stealing as many as 150 more.
But it was a painting she didn't steal that ultimately led to her arrest.
On Monday, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, Catalani tried to walk out of Chase Collegiate School with a $36,000 painting before she was confronted by school employees. She left the painting behind, but the school's headmaster, John D. Fixx, jotted down her license plate number as she drove away.
A few days earlier a painting valued at least $5,000 had been stolen from Fixx's office, according to the affidavit.
Police traced the car, which was registered to Fred Catalani, and went to the couple's home Tuesday. According to the affidavit, Diane Catalani invited detectives in and they saw paintings covering the walls.
After getting a search warrant, police said they seized 150 paintings, an antique teapot, a clock taken from the Naugatuck Historical Society and two crucifixes, one from a church in Naugatuck and the other from the Immaculate Conception Church's McGivney Hall. They also recovered a 150-year-old Bible once owned by Charles Goodyear that was stolen in June from the Naugatuck Historical Society.
“None of us have seen something like this,” said Sgt. Duane Tedesco, supervisor of the burglary squad, which is investigating the case.
Authorities have no evidence Catalani broke into homes. So far, they say the investigation suggests she took paintings from places with public access, such as museums, churches and libraries.
Investigators also have no evidence Catalani has sold any of the paintings. A neighbor did report taking a painting with a sign that read “free” from the Catalani’s driveway. Tedesco said authorities are searching for about 10 more paintings that were also left for the taking in the driveway.
Police do not know where most of the paintings came from, but suspect most, if not all, are stolen. Fred Catalani said his wife doesn’t remember where they are from.
Along with the paintings taken from Chase Collegiate School and The Waterbury Club, for which Diane Catalani already has been charged, investigators identified paintings taken from two Southbury Churches, the Naugatuck Historical Society, Watertown Public Library and Naugatuck Valley Community College. Catalani is expected to face charges soon for those thefts.
Investigators said some of the paintings have been missing for as long as two years.
Family members said since the death of her beloved grandmother two years ago, Diane Catalani’s mental illness, which she has struggled with for decades, grew worse. She often won’t take her medications, would go missing for as long as weeks at a time and has frequently been hospitalized. Her tendency to hoard things also had gotten worse.
Fred Catalani said his wife is loving to their two adult sons and young granddaughter. He’s angry she’s being held on $1 million bond at York Correctional Facility in Niantic. She was arraigned in court Wednesday and is expected to return in several weeks.
“I know she did wrong, but I don’t think she should go to prison for this because of her illness,” he said. “I think she should be in an institution for a while.
“The most important thing here is not the paintings, it’s my wife.”
“She hoards all kinds of junk she picks up at tag sales: pot tops without pots, costume jewelry, old shirts and once even brought home an old bicycle without a chain.”
Well, I’m busted, LOL!
We busted a woman shoplifting in our store a while back. She was mad as a wet cat, flailing around; just flat-out nuts!
She was screaming, “Can I call my Lawyer? Can I call my Husband? Can I call my Therapist?” LOL! This wasn’t her first bust, but this is the first time they actually arrested her, so you know she’s been stealing for a long time.
Lots of whacked-out people roaming around free out there...
““The most important thing here is not the paintings, it’s my wife.””
Typical amoral “loving” attitude. The paintings are important to OTHER people. A nutty wife does not have the right simply to act out her mental illness regardless of the interests of others.
And her husband is a model facilitator. He talks almost like an abused spouse. Anything which makes his wife “happy” is all right.
Mental illness is a danger, to the victim, and also to society. It is not true, though, that status as a “victim” entitles one to get away with crimes. The crimes must be stopped, and further crimes prevented. It may mean locking up this klepto, or otherwise restricting her rights.
It would have been nice if her husband had shown some ... let’s say, responsibility, himself.
She's not going to prison because of her illness, she's going to prison because she stole. Somehow I just knew the old *but she's so sweet* bit would come up.
Sounds like he's got his problems, too.
If this guy knew she had these kinds of problems, where the heck did he think she was getting the money for all this junk? Not only that, it’s obvious that many of these paintings are not just garage sale junk. He should be charged, too.
It’s a copy and it’s valued at $50,000.00? I wonder were the value comes from.
LOL. I guarantee you she ain’t so sweet.
This is the hardest problem in the world to handle. If I could figure it out, I would be a millionaire.
My husband was bipolar. This could easily have been my story. The answer for me was to stop working and stay home and give up my future financial security in order to caretake. It ain’t easy, either, because these types are almost always irrational and abusive.
Jail is not the answer. These people are truly ill. But society should not have to deal with these people. They can leave disaster wherever they go. If they can get their illness under control, they are gifted, artistic, and prolific. Unchecked, they leave disaster wherever they go. Walking time bombs. Jail is just more destructive for them.
The best answer is to have a caring family that understands the illness and has the resources and will to take care of them. Then again, that’s the answer to most things.
I can't imagine but if she won't take care of herself, and her family can't take care of her, she has to be locked up somewhere.
She's not being put in jail because of her illness. Right now jail is the place because of the crimes she committed. Maybe they can evaluate her there and decide what needs to be done.
ping
Ok, but what's the purpose then?
There's no deterrent effect if the woman is mad as a hatter.
Sometimes what happens (and I know it happened with me, and it seems it happened with several others I read about, like Andrea Yates) is that the family simply doesn’t realize how sick the person is.
The doctor tells you, and all the signs are there, but it is very hard to truly realize and internalize that the person is totally irresponsible and capable of doing the most irrational things.
I mean, this is your spouse. You married them, you love them and they seem normal. They start to say and do weird things. You take them to the doctor and they get put on meds (or sometimes not; our psychologist didn’t realize my husband was bipolar until he jumped on his endtable screaming in his office. And bipolar people have no respect for the meds, they often just go off them because they “feel great”).
But it’s very hard to realize the person you thought normal is suddenly, without obvious warning fully capable of say, chasing a cableman down the street screaming he’s destroying the minds of children. Or going out for “a ride” and coming home with $20000 worth of furniture bought on credit. Or, God forbid, screaming racial epithets out the car window at a black man. And you look at them and say, “How can you do that!”
And their answer is, “I’m fine. What’s wrong with you?”
The first few times they do it, it catches you by surprise. After that people usually wise up. But sometimes the first time is the time that is a doozy. I didn’t realize the problem I had until the postal inspectors showed up at my door.
After that, I never left him alone with the kids or a credit card in his wallet. I never let him deal with servicepeople. I never asked him to go anywhere to run an errand. I never sent him anywhere alone, at all. We didn’t even let him drive unless he was having a really, really good day. Mind you, he always thought he was “Just fine. Really.” And you know, he was, 90% of the time. So you feel rotten saying, you can’t watch the kids. But that last 10% was the kicker.
LOL. Hope there’s no art on the walls as she led into court.
Justice.
Justice isn’t about deterrent, it’s about justice. If you do the crime, you do the time. She stole. The law says there’s penalties for that.
So intent is irrelevant?
The law says there’s penalties for that.
And the law has recognized that insanity is a valid defense for crimes for over 800 years, and is valid in federal jurisdictions and 47/50 states. Now you're picking and choosing which laws you respect?
Fine, then everybody who commits a crime can escape punishment simply by claiming mental incompetence. That’s better?
If she was out murdering people would you not want her locked up just because she was crazy?
Well, you tell me: does that happen?
Is the mental insanity defense really that easy to prove that America's prisons are empty becaues nobody can ever get convicted? Of course not, because your hypothetical is absurd.
People who are genuinely insane, who cannot participate in their own defense, have never been treated as criminally culpable, not since the very beginnings of the anglo-saxon legal tradition. This isn't a new hot shot defense lawyer trick, this is an 800+ year tradition.
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