Alleged dillweed from West Virginia charged with advertising stolen Gardner art on Craigslist

A Beckley, WV man was arrested today on charges he tried to scam foreign art lovers into wiring him millions for two of the paintings stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, the US Attorney's office reports.

Todd Andrew "Mordokwan" Desper's arrest is the culmination of an investigation in which the Gardner's security director was brought in to communicate with him in an attempt to determine if he actually had the paintings (spoiler: He didn't). Desper, 47, was arrested at his home. He is scheduled for arraignment in US District Court in Boston on June 9.

According to the US Attorney's office:

Desper, acting under the pseudonym “Mordokwan,” solicited buyers for both the Storm on the Sea of Galilee and Vermeer’s The Concert on Craigslist in a number of foreign cities including Venice and London. Desper directed interested buyers to create an encrypted email account to communicate with him. Authorities were notified of the foreign Craigslist notices by individuals seeking to assist in the recovery of the artwork, as well as those seeking the $5 million reward offered by the Museum.

At the direction of federal authorities, the security director for the Gardner Museum engaged in encrypted communications with Desper in an attempt to determine whether Desper had access to the stolen masterpieces. Desper allegedly instructed him to send a cashier’s check for $5 million to a location in West Virginia and that Storm on the Sea of Galilee would then be sent in return, concealed behind another painting.

It is alleged that the investigation ultimately revealed that Desper had no access to, nor information about, the stolen paintings, but was instead engaged in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme targeting foreign art buyers.