P. CONLEY

PROVIDENCE — Three stolen paintings valued at roughly $1 million have turned up in the home of a prominent Rhode Islander, and a battle is under way in federal court to determine who will get to keep the artwork.

The saga dates back more than three decades and has more twists and turns than a mystery novel. It features a well-planned and terrifying home invasion of a wealthy socialite in central Massachusetts, the heist of the artwork and years of silence. The case was revived when the paintings were used as collateral on a loan and turned up in the living room of the multimillion-dollar home on Narragansett Bay in Bristol of Patrick T. Conley, a lawyer, developer and historian.

Conley’s younger brother, William Lincoln Conley Jr., an antiques dealer who runs Upscale Emporium in Barrington, gave the paintings to Conley as collateral on a $22,000 loan. Conley, who said he does not have a close relationship with his brother, said he didn’t know the paintings were stolen.

“I didn’t ask him where he got them,” Patrick Conley said. “I don’t think my brother realized they were real either. If he thought they were real, he’s not going to leave a million dollars in my possession.”

William Conley could not be reached for comment. An answering machine at his business was full and no longer accepting calls.

Last March, Conley said he contacted William Varieka, an art dealer in Newport, to determine their authenticity. He said Varieka studied them for several weeks and reported back to him that there was “good news and bad news.” The good news was that the paintings were authentic; the bad news was that they were listed as stolen on the Art Loss Register, a private firm with an international database of stolen and lost art.

“What do we do?” said Conley, asking him whether they should contact the local or state police. He said Varieka told him that he would call the FBI.

James Wynne, an FBI agent in New York City who specializes in art theft and art fraud, confirmed that, last March 21, Varieka contacted him.

The oil paintings are In the Sun, by Childe Hassam, an American impressionist; The Shore of Lake Geneva, by Gustave Courbet, a French realist; and Lady of Shepherdess, by William Hamilton, an American painter known for California landscapes.

“I’d like a reward for finding them, frankly,” Conley said. “I could have kept them in my house forever and no one would have ever known.”

On Feb. 19, the office of Robert Clark Corrente, the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island, filed a civil action in U.S. District Court in Providence to return the paintings to their rightful owners. The three parties battling for the artwork are Conley and his wife, Gail Conley; an heir to Mae Persky, the socialite and original owner of the paintings; and One Beacon Insurance Group, the Massachusetts-based insurer and the successor-in-interest to Commercial Union PLC, the insurer, that paid Persky about $45,000 for the thefts.

A federal judge, in the months or years ahead, will determine who will get possession of the paintings, which are now in the custody of the FBI.

The daring artwork heist occurred around midnight on July 2, 1976.

Three intruders, dressed in black and armed with handguns, broke into the Shrewsbury, Mass., home of Persky, wife of the former president of Worcester Knitting Co.

Persky was asleep in the house. Others inside were the caretaker, Owen McHugh, and Teresa Oswalt, a nurse companion, who also lived there.

Oswalt told the police that she heard a window smash about 11:50 p.m. and she immediately alerted Persky. They reached for the phone to call for help, but quickly discovered that the line was dead — the thieves had clipped the phone lines.

Moments later, two men with guns were standing in the bedroom Oswalt shared with Persky.

“What do you want? We don’t have anything here,” Oswalt said.

One of the robbers told her to be quiet or “he’d blow her head off,” according to a police report.

A robber stayed with the women, another ran upstairs to McHugh’s room. He pulled the ropes off the drapes and bound the feet and hands of the caretaker as well as Oswalt and Persky.

Two of the robbers ransacked the house for more than two hours, while the third kept watch over Persky, Oswalt and McHugh. Around 2 a.m., the thieves packed the artwork, furs, rugs and silverware into McHugh’s 1968 Ford sedan.

Before they left, one of the robbers yelled, “Give us an hour to get away or we’ll come back and burn the … place to the ground!”

The robbers piled into the car and drove off. Oswalt managed to break free from the ropes; she freed Persky and McHugh.

A day later, on July 3, the stolen car was found abandoned at 5:45 a.m. in Franklin, Mass., not far from the Rhode Island border. There was no trace of the loot and the three paintings.

Federal, state and local police launched an intensive probe, but the stolen goods were never recovered and no one was ever charged in the heist. Eventually, Persky filed a claim with her insurance company to cover the loss of the three paintings. She was awarded $45,000.

Years drifted by, and the leads dried up. Persky died, and in her will, she had left the paintings to William A. Yoffie and his wife, Judith Yoffie, of Worcester, Mass. Mr. Yoffie succeeded Persky’s husband, Abraham, as president of Worcester Knitting, and he also was trustee of the Abraham S. Persky Charitable Trust.

About six years ago, William Lincoln Conley contacted his brother. Bill Conley had been in the antiques business for more than 30 years in Rhode Island, Boston, New York and Los Angeles. He needed a $22,000 loan to buy “Christmas inventory,” for his business.

Patrick Conley had the money, but he wanted some assurance that his brother would pay him back. Over the years, Bill Conley had run afoul of the law. He had pleaded no contest in the mid-90s to charges of passing bad checks in Newport and obstructing a police officer in East Providence.

One day, Bill Conley dropped by his brother’s house with the three paintings.

“They are worth much more than you are lending me,” Bill Conley assured him.

Patrick Conley said he wrote his brother two checks — one for $15,000; another for $7,000.

Conley said that he and his wife hung two of the paintings — the Hassam and the Courbet — in their living room. They didn’t have room for the third painting, the Hamilton, so they placed it in a cedar clothing closet. “We didn’t particularly like it,” he said. “But, we didn’t want to put it in the garage.”

Conley said that he never even considered the possibility that the paintings were stolen and he made no attempt to hide them. He said that state Supreme Court judges, former attorneys general and police chiefs had attended social functions in his home where the artwork was displayed.

Conley said that his brother has never repaid him the $22,000. “I’ll have a long wait, I think,” he said. He doesn’t expect to prevail in federal court, but he would like the federal judge to order the insurance company to at least cover the costs of the loan as a reward for turning over the artwork to the authorities.

Meanwhile, Conley, a one-time boxer and track standout, said he’s not sure what he will do to replace the artwork in his home.

“Maybe some of my trophies and awards,” he said. “I’d rather see pictures of me on the walls winning Senior Olympic medals.”

bmalinow@projo.com