An aspiring rapper with a long rap sheet was sentenced Monday to 28 months in federal prison for obtaining a $100,000 loan by pawning four stolen paintings by American realist painter N.C. Wyeth at the Dina Collection, a high-end Beverly Hills pawn shop featured in a reality TV series.
Oscar Roberts, 37, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald to serve three years of supervised release after getting out of prison and to pay $100,000 in restitution.
According to federal prosecutors, Roberts brought the paintings, which he knew had been stolen, to Dina Collection owner Yossi Dina, star of “Beverly Hills Pawn” on cable television’s Reelz channel, to have them sold last year for at least $1 million.
When he learned that the FBI was attempting to recover the paintings, Roberts lied to investigators about not knowing the location of the artwork, and then later gave agents a false account of where the paintings might be, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney James A. Bowman.
Roberts then obtained a $100,000 loan from Dina, and urged the pawn shop owner to drop the asking price for the paintings so that they would be sold more quickly, according to a sentencing memorandum prepared by Bowman.
Shortly afterward, Dina alerted police to the transaction, he said.
After the FBI located the paintings and arrested Roberts, he was recorded on a jail telephone telling his fiance to hide the $100,000 and warn another witness not to talk with anyone, according to court papers.
Roberts also told his fiance to lie in connection with their application to buy a home, and say that he was in intensive care.
Prosecutors wrote that Roberts deserves prison time because he “lied repeatedly to federal agents and a prosecutor about the stolen paintings, has an extensive criminal history, and showed no remorse in the recorded prison call for his actions and instead gave instructions to hide the money he received from the illegally obtained loan.”
However, in mitigation, Bowman wrote that Roberts’ crime was “impulsive, rather than the result of substantial planning, and took place over a short period of time. Further, while in custody for this crime, defendant acted to help save the life of his cellmate, who had attempted suicide.”
Roberts’ court file reflects that he has a substantial criminal record, with 11 prior convictions that include drug offenses, burglary, conspiracy to commit forgery, and petty theft.
