Stolen art ring broken up in South Lake Tahoe; Two arrested

Two men arrested in South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday are facing several charges including forgery, conspiracy to commit a crime, 1st and 2nd degree burglary and impersonation to make others liable.

Chad Anthony Galvan, 33, and Marcus Daniel Gamez, 35, were arrested by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department after four expensive works of art were purchased from Marcus Ashley Galleries using stolen identities.

Galvan is from Palos Heights, IL and Gamez is from Oakland, CA. Both gave officers other names, ages and hometowns so these could be incorrect. Galvan and Gamez also gave the ages of 31. It has been confirmed that the names are correct.

The pair have long criminal backgrounds with arrests on conspiracy, forgery, burglary and fraud.

Investigating Officer Brian Hannink told South Tahoe Now that they are continuing to identify other potential crimes as there may be more victims of fraud in the area. Hennick said Galvan and Gamez have been operating the mini art theft ring in the area for about two weeks.

One painting has been recovered so far.

According to Hannink, the two would obtain another person's identity and credit information, go into the gallery to make a purchase and walk out with a painting valued at thousands of dollars. They made three different visits to the gallery with three different sets of identification and credit information.

South Tahoe Now will be updating this story as new information is available.