***WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE IN VIDEO***
A tip has led police to bring charges against a 22-year-old man allegedly caught on cellphone video spray painting a bullfighter on a Picasso masterpiece at a Houston museum.
Uriel Landeros, 22, has been charged with criminal mischief and felony graffiti in the defacing of a Picasso painting, according to Crime Stoppers. (Crime Stoppers photo)
Uriel Landeros, 22, was charged Friday with criminal mischief and felony graffiti, both third-degree felonies, but was not in custody, according to officials.
A cellphone video taken by another patron June 13 at The Menil Collection allegedly showed Landeros spraying a stencil of a bullfighter killing a bull and the word "conquista" on Picasso's "Woman in a Red Armchair," Houston police said.
The 1929 work is reportedly valued at several million dollars.
Landeros is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 180 lbs. Anyone with information about his location or the involvement of additional suspects is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
Repair and restoration of the painting is continuing, museum spokesman Vance Muse said by email Friday.
No date has been set for the painting's return to public display at the Menil, Muse said.
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