Woman charged with stealing paintings from private school, club

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | Thursday, November 8, 2007 | BEN CONERY

[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.”

[Alter Kaker]

If she was out murdering people would you not want her locked up just because she was crazy?

If she were out murdering people purely because of her insanity, she should be locked up in a psychiatric institution until such time as competent medical authorities deem her no longer a threat to society. That may be after some course of treatment, or it may be never. I just reject the notion that anything is accomplished by putting a crazy person into the criminal justice system.