Evidently the Asian Underworld Likes My Stuff

QUARANTINE CAREER THROW-BACK

2003

This is a painting with a storied past.

Trattoria Dolce Vecchio  30x40 acrylic on canvas

It was one of the first paintings I created at the start of my career.

It was painted in the fall of 2000 while in my first studio; the historic Harrington School in American Fork.

I entered this painting in an art competition. It won best of show.

That helped me believe I could actually paint for profit and have enjoyed painting since.

I started selling art on eBay and put this piece up for sale.

It had a bidder quickly and when the auction ended, I had a sale. $10,000 plus shipping.

They made the purchase via credit card (before the widespread use of PayPal for protection).

It had a buyer in Indonesia and the money was received via a merchant account.

It was crated up and shipped to Jakarta.

Then I received word that the purchase was made through a stolen credit card. Oh no! The money was pulled back but I had already shipped the painting!

I filed a police report.

I tracked the cargo online. It had shipped from the port of Los Angeles and it had traveled as far as Hong Kong, but had not been delivered yet to the buyer. That was good news. I made some calls and arranged to have it shipped back from the Hong Kong warehouse.

The police followed the trail and informed me that this fraud behavior was certainly due to drug traffickers. They "buy" art through stolen cards and then sell them for real currency to finance their nefarious deeds.

The painting was returned in perfect shape and it hangs proudly in my home.