So we would see parts like that and we would be Oh, this is just like us. Little did the three know that F.B.I. . There were all sorts of theories as to why they had done it: they were drug addicts; they had amassed large gambling debtsor Lipka's father had, and the boys did it to save the family's honor (the variant most popular with the local papers). After a brief discussion they chose Chas Allen, a handsome, clean-cut U.K. business major who had started the lawn-care company with Eric the previous summer. We figured, All right, well, now we just got what we thought would be impossible possibly taken care of, Spencer tells me. as we left we were going to make an anonymous phone call so they knew she was up here, Eric continues. So we get the passport from the dude, plane tickets. After a brief discussion they chose Chas Allen, a handsome, clean-cut U.K. business major who had started the lawn-care company with Eric the previous summer. Across town at U.K., in a towering cinder-block dorm, Warrens world was spinning apart at a much faster clip. American Animals is a 2018 heist film written and directed by Bart Layton.Starring Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson, and Ann Dowd, it follows four college friends who plan a heist of their library.It tells the story of an actual heist which took place at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky in 2004.. American Animals premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film . It'll show up on your profile and if approved, on this page. Hes probably thinking I blamed him for [stealing] the money, which I never really did. After the Halloran interview the F.B.I. And so I see Warren go back.. . The Lexington Police Departments commercial-burglary squad was assigned to the case. Along the way a stoned Spencer read aloud from the purloined first edition of On the Origin of Species, particularly fascinated by the section on how the ears of domesticated animals have drooped over generations due to the disuse of the muscles of the ear from the animals not being much alarmed by danger.. Once the boys were inside the library, students stared at the ridiculous old-man disguises. An American Animals coloring book, as well as original drawings Skip to content Spencer Reinhard Home After Audubon Prison Period Abstract Abstract color series Post prison Abstract About Shop Commissions Contact Menu Home After Audubon Prison Period In early 2006, they began serving their sentences in federal prison, with no possibility for parole. A week later came a terse reply, telling Terry that, if he wanted to sell something, he was going to have to come in person to Amsterdam, as that is where I do business. Both Spencer and Warren were thrilleduntil they realized it would require traveling with a passport. Opposite him there is another young man, fully fleshed and with a neat haircut, resting in a chair, staring into space. So I walk off happy, come back to the States, and blow Spencer's mind.. Warren was already busily working out the problem, returning for advice to his underworld contact: What if we had some artwork that we wanted to sell? Warren remembers asking him. In between soccer practice, classes, painting, and studying, Spencer drew detailed sketches of the inside of the Special Collections Library and the adjacent Rare Book Room, making several appointments with the Special Collections librarian, Betty Jean Gooch, to scout the premises. A uniformed doorman cheerily welcomed both boys into the lobby, where they informed reception that they were there for Mr. Walter Beckmans appointment with Thomas Leckey, Christies rare-book specialist. The L.P.D. Slattery was arrested and convicted of one successful and two attempted robberies. After prison I took up a casual interest in birds. Because this is so much bigger than anything we've done before.. Both boys were spitting images of Mr. Stephens and Mr. Williams. For added anonymity, Warren bleached his hair blond that night. into a perfect parking space and watched as Eric and Warren entered the library. Eric couldn't get hold of his friend's car, leaving Chas to borrow a Dodge Caravan his mother was fortuitously selling the next day, the boys say. . They checked into the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Warren signing in under the nom de guerre Harry Ballsania name backed up with one of their fake Kentucky drivers licensesand paying in cash. The contact, who identified himself only as Barry, stipulated that Warren had to bring $500 in good-faith money. In early February 2005, the F.B.I. That afternoon they worked their way back uptown, to scope out Christies steel-and-glass headquarters before their Tuesday appointment. The plan will continue to grow and mature as the leader goes forward. It Was Catastrophic: Inside Prince Andrews Misguided Bid to Explain Away Epstein, In the wake of Jeffrey Epsteins arrest and apparent suicide, Prince Andrew moved from the fringe of a swirling underage-sex scandal toward its white-hot center. He took a cab to Dam Square, an old hippie hangout in the center of the city he had read about on the Internet. This is my first time on the island, any island for that matter, he said. Warren also ordered four stun guns over the Internet. Spencer, meanwhile, was accepted to Transylvania on an arts scholarship, his sights firmly set on a career in graphic design. We figured, All right, well, now we just got what we thought would be impossible . Despite the differing temperamentsand the disapproval of Spencer's parentsthe two were best friends from the age of eight, a friendship that revolved largely around soccer. They stuffed some of the smaller books Gooch had pulled out for them into their backpacks. Warren called me one night and he's like, We need to get together. He was still enrolled, but only nominally, and remained on the fringes of campus life. In between soccer practice, classes, painting, and studying, Spencer drew detailed sketches of the inside of the Special Collections Library and the adjacent Rare Book Room, making several appointments with the Special Collections librarian, Betty Jean Gooch, to scout the premises. Cops entered the basement, a dank pit reeking of marijuana, and found Warren sprawled out on a mattress. (Spencer had had to do a rush job on them because his art-history final had run long.) The crew arrived in New York City early Sunday morning. I'm not going to lie. The stun guns Warren had ordered never arrived, so he drove around town and returned with a Black Cobra Stun Pen, and had Spencer zap him and Eric to test its knockdown power. The banality of assessments, passing courses for the sake of progression and limited intellectual stimulation meant that Spencers time at university was far removed from his hoped for experience. Failure to plan is planning to fail because if you don't plan anything, you might as well not plan at all. Spencer was arrested in a simultaneous raid on his dorm room at Transy. New film American Animals tells the story of one of the most audacious heists in U.S. history when three well off friends Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk and Chas Allen decided to try . Get the latest chatter, from Kensington Palace and beyond, straight to your inbox. Warren and Chas left the other two and staggered to the nearby China Club, a tacky West Side nightclub, which they knew about from the famous Rick James episode of Chappelle's Show. If you were referring only to my paintings featuring birds, I would say its my ability to render the birds accurately, but in a way that gives them personality.. Inside were the books, wrapped in sheets and pillowcases. I was born in Lexington, Kentucky and was raised by my wonderful parents in what was a largely carefree and happy childhood. He topped off his new living quarters with the last of his worldly belongings: a large-screen television, a DVD player, and a Sony PlayStation. Each has a different style of facial hairmuttonchops (Lipka), a Fu Manchu (Borsuk), a Tom Selleck (Reinhard)which Lipka informs me they had carefully trimmed for my visit. (Because Spencer was a Transy student, he risked being recognized in the library.) We felt bad., Warren and Eric rode the elevator to the basement, but they couldnt find the fire exit. I was expecting to play soccer quite a lot, but the coach was a completely different person once I got on the team, he tells me. The meeting ended after 30 minutes, and Ms. Halloran escorted the two out, assuring them that she'd be in touch after conferring with her superiors on the best way forward. Chas cursed Warren as an incompetent, and condemned the other two as burnouts, demanding that the three figure out a way to get the books appraised so they could move on to the next phase of the plan. They climbed onto dorm roofs, where theyd stake out the library for hours at a time, marking down the comings and goings of teachers, students, and security personnel. Before, in college, growing up, we were being funneled into this mundane, nickel-and-dime existence. All rights reserved. . The meeting was scheduled for the next morning on the southern edge of Central Park near the Plaza Hotel. During their sentencing hearing, in December 2005, the federal prosecutor asked for 11 to 14 years each for Eric, Chas, and Spencer, and 14 to 17 years for Warren, deeming him the leader, organizer, and recruiter. They had reserved a room in the same Midtown Hilton that Spencer and Warren had stayed in nearly a year earlier. Serving a seven-year prison sentence following his involvement in a notorious heist (portrayed in the film American Animals), Spencer Reinhard was committed to not losing "the best years of his life." He turned to his own art, determined to refine his craft and technique. Warren went up to the third floor to meet Gooch, while Eric waited downstairs for him to call. At first, we wanted to move to the States as quickly as possible, but we began to see the benefits of living in South America. They jump in the van and peel out around the loop.. When the four boys were arrested the news was met with disbelief, as none of them had been in any serious trouble before. Bam. The first call went out to the National Crime Information Center, alerting law enforcement to be on the lookout for a gray minivan with temporary plates, the description of a vehicle seen screeching away from the library. Theyre one of Hollywoods brightest starsand most troubled actors. [Warren's] like, Come on up, Eric remembers. Mr. Beckman now wanted these books appraised. Warren had been convinced after spotting a suspicious man loitering near the yellow bungalowwhen he stepped outside, the man disappeared into an unmarked white van with tinted windows and sped off. Like, they were doing something serious, talking about the heist, going over the plan, and somebody would make a joke. Im not going to lie. 1.7K Followers. They tried to come up with some link the cops could make between them and the theft, but they couldn't. The painting is a kaleidoscope of images, including what appears to be a computer, a cell phone, a bong, the Transylvania library, and loose sheets of notepaper, floating above a desiccated one-eyed young man in a watch cap, kicking back on a beat-up couch with a blue dog on his lap. That was the point all along. Between studying for his first semester's finals, working out, and painting, Spencer made time to scope out the Special Collections section of the Transy library, reporting back to Warren weeks later that there was zero security other than an old lady librarian named B.J. (Through his attorney, Allen declined to be interviewed.) Spencers journey as an aspiring artist may at first appear wholly inimical to achieving that end, though significantly the challenges he faced are far from unique to most aspiring artists. Whilst Spencers life path may have been unorthodox at times one can only but admire what it has led him to. As she inspected the items, Halloran dutifully took notes, then asked a few questions regarding their provenance, which Spencer answered as best he could under the circumstances. Wearing a heavy coat, gloves, and a wool cap, Beckman signed the visitors' log. Us three, we were much thicker than he was.) And what Chas likely didnt know was that, for Warren, Eric, and Spencer, the actual appraisal and sale of the stolen books had become irrelevant to the mission. Titled A Plan to Fail, it was part of a series he had done on the crime for a local art gallery while out on bond. It was the sense of redemption that I hadnt anticipated. With a long, thin face and bleached-blond hair and sideburns, he appeared younger than Gooch had expected. He thought he was much better than everybody else, and he got to the point where he wasn't like us. I wouldnt trade it for anything., Looking ahead, the artist divulged that he is due to have a show next year in Los Angeles and has much to produce. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. . They think we have [the books]. As they took their seats in the conference room, Warren explained that he and Mr. Stephens are the sole representatives of Walter Beckman, whom he described as a very private individual from Boston who had recently inherited several valuable rare books and manuscripts. They tried to come up with some link the cops could make between them and the theft, but they couldnt. The meeting was scheduled for the next morning on the southern edge of Central Park near the Plaza Hotel. (Big Warren declined to comment on the gambling accusations at the time.) (Spencer had had to do a rush job on them because his art-history final had run long.) As reported by People, poor planning and a fumbling execution including one member, Reinhard, leaving his home phone number at an action house eventually led to their capture. Spencer had underestimated his friends resolve. In their senior year the two became local celebrities after a dramatic photo appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader showing Lexington Catholic star goalkeeper Lipka and Tates Creek forward Reinhard battling midair during a playoff game. Sign up for The Gleaners morning and evening newsletters. The stun guns Warren had ordered never arrived, so he drove around town and returned with a Black Cobra Stun Pen, and had Spencer zap him and Eric to test its knockdown power. Calculated, mathematical, loose, painterly, spontaneous, 2021 Spencer Reinhard all rights reserved, Please send me the price list, I am interested in purchasing an original Reinhard. Forensically examining Instagram accounts, interviews, and police reports, author Kathleen Hale reconstructs their relationship, and ultimately Petitos murder. Accounts, interviews, and found Warren sprawled out on a career in graphic design that I hadnt.. 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