STUART, Fla., Dec. 12 -- The FBI said Tuesday it arrested a Wisconsin man for last month's theft last of a ceramic cat crafted by Pablo Picasso from the Ernest Hemingway House museum in Key West, Fla.
The FBI said Robert Naughton, 31, also known as "Mr. Green" in anonymous calls to the Miami Herald was arrested last the weekend in Stuart, Fla.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the Hudson, Wis., man gave the cat to a catamaran captain as collateral for a dinghy that he borrowed. Several tips led authorities to the catamaran captain and the cat, along with Naughton, who jailed in Martin County.
The Hemingway House had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the return of the ceramic work, and was trying to work out how to make good on the reward Tuesday.
But there was still controversy over the authenticity of the cat. Hemingway's son, Patrick, dismissed it as a thrift store find. But it was identified as the author's first wife as a gift from Picasso in the 1920s.
Scholars have argued that ceramic figurines sold as Picassos actually had been made by a group of other artisans beginning in 1946.
After the theft from the Hemingway House Nov. 14, Naughton, who has also used the alias of Peter D. Nelson, called the Miami Herald several times and eventually disclosed his plot to give the cat to the Hemingway House for the reward, sell it for a lesser amount of money or give it to his mother.
Orihuela said when the FBI arrested Naughton Saturday, "he admitted everything."
Linda Larson, a spokeswoman for the Hemingway House, said, "We are very happy about this."
She said officials were trying to figure out a way to display the cat in a way that will ensure its security.NEWLN:
