Teenager Charged In Art Museum Damage
DENVER (CBS4) - An 18 year old accused of damaging artwork at the Denver Art Museum last month now faces one count of criminal mischief. Jake Siebenlist was identified as the suspect.
At first, Denver Art Museum staff estimated the damage at more than $1.9 million. After further review, the value of the art damaged is now estimated at less than $100,000 based partly on the determination that nearly all of the objects can be repaired.
Witnesses tell police they saw Siebenlist push over a glass case with art inside and pushed it over. He then pushed other patrons out of the way and threw sculptures across a room according to police documents.
Patrons also tell police Siebenlist tried to push over two paintings but could not because they were protected by glass.
"It's hard for us to understand why this happened," museum director Christoph Heinrich said in December. "It was objects mostly from the pre-Columbian collection, modern and contemporary and one object from the Asian collection. The pre-Columbian objects were ceramic vessels and the Chinese object was a 19th century vase."
The arrest affidavit released in the case doesn't provide any clues as to why the suspect vandalized the exhibit.
Siebenlist is due in court March 14 to enter a plea in the case.